
Class. 



Book_i_i4k_y 



GopigM°_ 



CQHRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



OUTDOORS AND IN 



OUTDOORS AND IN 

A COLLECTION OF VERSE 



BY 

JOSHUA FREEMAN CROWELL 




Boston 

The Four Seas Company 

1920 



Copyright, 1920, by 
The Four Seas Company 



Mak 2CH320 



The Four Seas Press 
Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 



©CU566129 



DEDICATED 
TO MY WIFE 

FLORENCE HATHAWAY CROWELL 

Life? 

I find it 

In her eyes of love. 

Good? 

I feel 'tis 

What she doth approve. 

Faith? 

I know she 

Has it from above. 



PRELUDE 

May the Great Outdoors 
Welcome us 
Through the year, 
Along the way. 

May the Great Outdoors 
Invite us 
Above the clouds, 
From sea and shore, 
By wood and stream, 
Of field and town, 
To tone and tune. 

May the Great Outdoors 
Make us 
Garden wise, 
Dream wise! 



CONTENTS 



THROUGH THE YEAR 

Page 

Challenge i 

The Votary i 

Discovery . ■ 2 

Rebirth 3 

The Naturalist 4 

Twilight 4 

Mystery 5 

Autumn Glow 5 

October 6 

Anticipation 6 

Coordination 7 

Iron Mountain, Jackson, N. H 7 

The Last Song Sparrow (Triolet) .... 7 

October Ends . 8 

Cinquieme 8 

Snow 9 

Promise 9 

Treasure 10 

[vii] 



viii CONTENTS 

Page 

Zero Weather 10 

A Winter Fantasy n 

Song of the Seasons 12 

Remembrance 13 

Ecstasy 13 

Caterpillar Community 13 

Green! Green! (Cinquieme) 14 

"Dogwood' " (Cinquieme) 14 

-!- 14 

Spring Music 15 

Pageant of the Day 16 

Sun Splendor 17 

My Brother 17 

Summer! (Cinquieme) 18 

July Sun . 18 

The Humming Bird 18 

The Wanderlust 19 

A Rosary 20 

ALONG THE WAY 

Along the Way 23 

Self Culture 24 

Also 24 

Joy 24 



CONTENTS ix 

Page 

Work 25 

Philosophy 25 

Then Art Thou Blessed 25 

Under the Stars 26 

Cry from the City . • . .26 

His Children Picking Flowers 2.7 

Whoever You Are 2.7 

Ultima 27 

My Leader 2,7 

I Know 28 

An Episode 29 

For Pity 30 

Who? 30 

Take My Advice 31 

? ? ? 31 

The Optimist 32 

In Tune 32 

The Motorist 33 

We Find It as We Make It 34 

On Pleasure Bent . ' 35 

Socialism 35 

Colloquial (Triolet) 36 

Limitations 36 

Simple Faith (Triolet) 37 

TIME ! HOPE ! LOVE ! . .38 



x CONTENTS 

Page 

Winter Song 39 

Love 39 

Love as its Treasure (Triolet) 40 

The Message 40 

At Dawn . 41 

Beauty 41 

The Stars by Night, the Clouds by Day . . 42 

The Heavens are Telling 43 

My Message 44 

The Chain 44 

I'm Nobody 44 

Single Heart 45 

Youth . 45 

Song of Youth 46 

I Go to the City 47 

The Luxury of Clouds 48 

How It Seems to be a Star 49 

Poet, — . 49 

I Am Not an Experiment 50 

Into the Future 50 

ABOVE THE CLOUDS 

Life Would Fly -53 

The Aviator 53 



CONTENTS xi 

Page 

From the Battleground 54 

The Air Rider 54 

Once to Every Man 55 

Caliban 56 

The Inmost Shrine 56 

Das Ideal der Schonheit .57 

Primary Philosophy 57 

Flights 58 



FROM SEA AND SHORE 

An Interlude 63 

Without, Within 64 

The Coast Light 64 

Muezzin 65 

At South Sea 65 

Furdus Strands 66 

Creltholme 67 

At Creltholme (Villanelle) 68 

To My Mate 69 

Abundance * . 69 

A Gale 70 

A Tliolet 70 

A Cape Cod Chortle 70 

Flotsam 71 



xii CONTENTS 

Page 

From Quisset to Wood End 72 

Vacation on the South Shore 72 

Veritas 73 

Great Island 73 

Sea Voices 73 

Craigville 74 

Nauset 74 

Monomoy 75 

HyannisPort (Rondeau) j6 

An Off Shore Tragedy 76 

Wianno yy 

The Playground 78 

A Rumor of War 79 

The Sand Siren 79 

From My Window 80 

A Sea Spell 80 

For June 81 

Mattakese 82 

BY WOOD AND STREAM 

I Wonder 85 

Folk Lore 86 

I Know a Wood 86 

Arbutus 87 



CONTENTS xiii 



I AM FOR THE SIMPLICITIES 87 

A Rondel 88 

To the Great Oak at Oak Lynde .... 89 

Florida Magic 90 

February Flowerets 90 

Florida Woods 91 

I Walked Away Into the Wood 92 

By the St. Johns 93 

Spring Scherzo 94 

Adventure 94 

For the "Jesus and St. John of Siena" . . 95 

Message of the Spruce 96 

New Birth 97 

From the Old, Old Pines 98 

OF FIELD AND TOWN 

To Beauty 103 

Ego 103 

Butterfly Weed 104 

Golden Rod 104 

To be Asked of Summer 105 

Dandelions 105 

Joe Pye Weed 106 

Fields of Peace 107 



xiv CONTENTS 

Page 

Jacksonville from Oak Lynde 108 

Florida Phlox 108 

May We Most Love 108 

A Trilogy of Tryon, the Beautiful . . . 109 

The War Mother in 

Charleston in 

Charleston 112 

City Citations : Boston, New York, Washing- 
ton, Chicago, San Francisco, Chattanooga 113 

Town Versus Man 113 

Freedom's Voice 114 

The Curse 115 

The Melting Pot 115 

A Prayer 116 

Birthright 116 

A Pageant 117 

TO TONE AND TUNE 

Melody 121 

In Music's Running Rivers 122 

Vision 122 

Harmony 123 

The Old Masters 123 

Alter in Ego I2 4 



CONTENTS xv 



What Poetry and Music Give 124 

Music 125 

The Dominant 126 

The Leading Tone 126 

Diminished or Augmented Fifths .... 127 

Harmonics 127 

Sung by the Year 128 

Sung by the Moon 129 

The Composer 129 

Song of the Soul 130 

To the June Bride (Triolet) 131 

A Wish for These Twain 131 

Tonality 132 

Unresolved 132 

They Also Serve Who Weep 133 

Sing to Me, Love 133 

To One 133 

Song 134 

To Florence 134 

May 5TH, 1910 135 

Rondeau 136 

A Bouquet 137 

An Ode 138 

To My Lady 139 

Anniversary 140 



xvi CONTENTS 

Page 

To F. H. C 141 

Time and Eternity 141 

GARDEN WISE 

A Sonnet 145 

To A. S. C 146 

Three Moons 147 

Steps 148 

Fruition 148 

Growth 149 

Patience 149 

The Garden Tryst 150 

Yellow Rose 150 

Sweet Rocket 151 

Lady Gay 151 

Arabis 151 

Anthemis (Cinquieme) 152 

Flora's Paint Brush . 152 

Salpiglossis (Triolet) 152 

Golden Alyssum 153 

Forsythia 153 

Prunus Purpureus 153 

Arctotis 154 

Cups of Canterbury . . . . . . . .154 

The Chimney Bells 155 



CONTENTS xvii 

Page 

Wallflower 156 

Dahlia 156 

Celosia 156 

Mignonette 156 

For November (Triolet) 157 

Hollyhock 157 

Point of View 158 

It Rains from West 158 

Messages from My Garden 159 

For Flora's Evening Stroll 160 

This Life is Like an April Day 160 

Little Maiden, Would You Know . . . .160 

Somewhere in France 161 

A Letter from France 161 

A 1917 Garden Epic 162 

Since Adam 163 

Ballade 164 

AN INTERLUDE 
Cape Cod 169 

DREAM WISE 

Dream Wise 175 

Proclamation 176 



xviii CONTENTS 

Page 

The Pines of Yarmouth 177 

The Writer's Ideal 178 

The Dreamers : Shakespeare, Emerson . . 179 

A Tribute to the Idealist 180 

O Tempora ! O Mores ! 180 

Dies Irae 181 

Personal Conviction 181 

Traumerei 182 

Prehistoric 182 

Touch Not 183 

For Sanity 183 

Admonition 184 

Pure Waters 184 

Old Mirror 184 

Youth Writes and Age Rewrites . . . .185 

Values 185 

Life 186 

The Wife 186 

Retrospect . 187 

Treasure Trove 188 

The Daily Question 188 

The League of Nations is Born 189 

United States Speaks on July 4TH .... 189 

The Motive 190 

A Rondeau to Ethel 191 



CONTENTS xix 

Page 

A Poet Sang 192 

Awakening 192 

The Little Faith I Have 193 

Age, to Her Mirror 193 

Experience 193 

Ultimatum 194 

Mary Louise Dances 195 

United 196 

Poetas Speaks 197 

If, to the Forest of Arden 198 

Envoi 199 



THROUGH THE YEAR 



THROUGH THE YEAR 



CHALLENGE 



Unless you have spent a day in the wood, 
When the leaves are crimson and gold, 
And the lore of the trees have understood, 
And the message of pond and bog ; 

Unless you have lain on the ground in the sun, 
And felt your spirit grow : 

Unless you have done what I have done, 
You never can know ! 



THE VOTARY 

Alone, beside the restless sea, 
Undying visions come to me; 

And noble thoughts in varying moods 
Escort me through the vernal woods. 

Across the autumn marshes, flame 
Promptings too wonderful to name, 
[i] 



Outdoors and In 

To the whispered music of the night, 
My soul seeks its majestic height. 

All moods of nature, free and pure, 
Entreat my spirit to endure. 

I'll follow not the voice of men, 
While God speaks in the silent glen. 

My life shall shun the city street, 
My work be found in pastures sweet. 

With faith that shall enlarge the soul, 
I'll play my part in nature's whole. 



DISCOVERY 

The joy of the wood 
Is its tone of peace; 
Here, lost in its mood, 
My burden shall cease. 



Through the Year 

REBIRTH 

Only in this lonely forest, 

Green and wild, 
Have I found the dreams I lost 

When a child. 

Here, I'm holding hands with nature, 

Spirit free; 
Intoning praise of holiest measure 

With a tree. 

Every weary, worldly thraldom 

From me slips ; 
And the taste of life is sweeter 

To my lips. 

To my past, I've lent no hostage 

Of return; 
All my future shall be treasured 

In the fern. 

No more seeking lost illusions 

Here and there; 
Truth is uttered by the forest 

Everywhere. 

In this simple song of faith, 

Nature gives> 
My tong-neglected, da§kl-#ure 

Spiri*: lives ! 



Outdoors and In 

THE NATURALIST 

In the woods I lived my life, 
Because I knew I must; 
My music was the wind and rain, 
The warblers shared my crust; 
And all the gentle creature souls ' 
Soon learned my ways to trust. 

A wonder! In that life of mine, 

So lived a year or more, 

The shy ones and the sly ones 

Came quietly to my door; 

And many meeting there as friends, 

Were enemies before! 



TWILIGHT 

A golden sunset! Against the sky, 
In serried lines of sepia, lie 
The distant hills ; while on high, 
To diadem the gathering gloom, 
A single star of silvery gleam. 

So close my day with draperies of peace, 
As, one by one, life's joys decrease, 
Till pains and pleasures both shall cease ; 
Let one pure ray of faith illume 
Eternity's long wistful dream.. 



Through the Year 

MYSTERY 

What mortal hears 
The majestic music of the spheres? 

What mortal knows 
The humble birthplace of the rose? 

AUTUMN GLOW 

Hark, the soft and silvery note 
From the Finch's golden throat, 
Upon the autumn air afloat! 

Across the meadow, through the vale, 
Comes the ringing, wondrous tale 
Of the boisterous South Sea gale! 

I'll love this day before 'tis lost, 

And find a faith, unspoiled, uncrossed, 

Among the seething pines, wind-tossed! 

I seek no place in mart or clan, 
No weary system made by man : 
Alone, afoot, I'll find God's plan ! 

For every bush in dark red cloak, 
As well as brighter bannered oak, 
Shall be my kin, my own home folk! 

I'll to the wildwood wisdom go, 

Where streams of health and beauty flow, 

And fill my soul with autumn glow! 



Outdoors and In 

OCTOBER 

Our hearts cannot be grey: 

For fields are flowered today 

With yellow, white and blue ; 

The forest furls its banners gay, 

An elfin wind pipes roundelay; 

And though 'tis true, sweet summer's through, 

It's gorgeous going is bestowing 

Good cheer to store away. 



ANTICIPATION 

Now, Autumn is busy 
Wrapping the landscape 
In brilliant colors, 
For the holidays. 
Now, whoever wishes, 
May have a package 
Of Nature's good will; 
For the pastures 
Flower with thanksgiving, 
And the woods brighten 
With the Christmas spirit. 



Through the Year 

COORDINATION 

The oaks are red, glowing deeply 

With departing fires of ecstasy : 

Holding to nature's mirror 

The moving splendor 

Of the year's most gorgeous pageant. 

This itinerant charm of season 

Touches all humanity 

With its generous warmth. 

So summer sunset glows through the night 

Of winter, to greet the dawn of spring! 

IRON MOUNTAIN, JACKSON, N. H. 

A leaf falls on the road, a yellow spotted leaf, 
And Nature's song is sighing its autumn grief ; 
Along the heights of splendor, dusky shadows cling ; 
Whoever welcomes winter, hastens spring. 

THE LAST SONG SPARROW 
(triolet) 
Will you sing, little friend, 
Your sprightliest measure? 
If your life I'll defend, 
Will you sing, little friend? 
Though summer's at end, 
To prolong its brief pleasure, 
Will you sing, little friend, 
Your sprightliest measure? 



Outdoors and In 

OCTOBER ENDS 

The sunshine burns, the air is chill ; 
The blackbirds flock for flight, 
Poise a moment, the orchard fill, 
And then whirl out of sight. 

Softly, slyly, fluttering leaves, 
So lately green with pride, 
Part acquaintance with the trees ; 
In nooks and corners hide. 

The charm of summer fades away, 
Yet beauty always shall remain; 
For faith has taught our human day 
That all things die to live again. 



(CINQUIEME) 

Cloud, rain, 
And grey mist : 
The earth in pain 
Is patiently waiting 
To be sun-kissed! 



Through the Year 

SNOW 

I think that I shall never know 
A truer beauty than the snow. 

The snow, whose purity has dressed 
Earth's tempest-torn and troubled breast. 

Born in a fleecy cloud on high, 
Its ancestors are sea and sky. 

A child that dancing came in play, 
Until the sun smiled it away. 

More brief and beautiful is snow 
Than any wonder that I know. 

A lovely poem, writ by God, 

For those to read who toil and plod. 



PROMISE 

In dreary December, I walk the garden rows, 
To dream of whiter lilies, 
Than July ever knows ; 

When, like the molten melody 

Of one sweet yellow rose, 

The sunshine whispers "Summer!" 

And my heart overflows. 



io Outdoors and In 

TREASURE 

So safe, within our hearts, each day, 
The deeper things are stored away ; 
Not vain regret, nor work, nor play, 
Can compass our undoing. 



ZERO WEATHER 

From the center 

Of an immeasurable cube of ice, 

My hope grasps 

At one infinitesimal ray of spring. 



Through the Year " 

A WINTER FANTASY 

As I went to my winter ploy, 
Along the aisles of snow, 
I met the dearest little boy, 
With eyes and cheeks aglow. 

I smiled at him, he smiled at me, 
And then, without a sound, 
He seized my hand, and round a tree 
We danced the snowy ground! 

His eyes are merry like his 1 l^o, 
And boughs are bending low 
To catch the music as he skips 
Fantasias in the snow. 

Then all the forest grew a- joy 
With brimming ecstasy; 
The sky laughed with my elfin boy ; 
All nature laughed to see ! 

The chic-a-dees sang loud and clear, 
And near, I heard one say 
With all his heart : "Dee ! Dee ! De, dear !" 
At my dear lad at play. 

And thus we danced the winter morn 
Most gaily, hand in hand: 
And when I waked, my pal was gone, 
But spring was in the land. 



i2 Outdoors and In 

SONG OF THE SEASONS 

By a 

Quartet of the Winds 

The West Wind sings, — 
"Wake up! 
"Hear the patter of rain ; 'tis spring again ! 
"Buttercup ! 
"Wake up!" 

The South Wind sighs, — 
"Fa — la! 
"Please tinkle, sweet bluebell, and twinkle, 
"Kind star! 
"Fa — la!" 

The East Wind roars, — 
"Ha! Ho! 
"I'll bluster above, and I'll battle 
"Below ! 
"Ha ! Ho !" 

The North Wind cries, — 
"Resist ! 
"With cruel crackle of icicle shackle 
"I twist ! 
"Resist!" 



Through the Year 13 

REMEMBRANCE 

He held a blossom in his hand, 
Fresh, fragrant from the tree, 
And that made beauty in the land, 
And love's spring-time for me. 
The wind is wild, the tree is bare, 
A dirge comes from the sea; 
Faint fragrance of that blossom fair 
Brings back love's spring to me. 



ECSTASY 

After winter's cold, dark hours, 
Sudden green ! Rills gurgling ! 
Sun! Song! Sap! Showers! 
Spring ! Spring ! Spring ! 



CATERPILLAR COMMUNITY 

One silken tent for all; 
One silver trail, the. test 
Of life along the path of time ; 
One fateful, universal call; 
One stern ideal of rest — 
How catholic ! Sublime ! 



i4 Outdoors and In 

(CINQUIEME) 

Green! Green, 
In Spring's employ! 
The earth's a-preen 
With ecstatic abundance 
Or super-joy! 



(CINQUIEME) 

"Dogwood !" 

The sun shouts. 

Suddenly, the grey 

Bursts into illimitable paeans 

Of white. 



It seems to be a spring infection, 
To murder beauty for perfection: 
God wished the rose upon the thorn, 
And dandelions on the lawn. 



Through the Year 15 

SPRING MUSIC 

The dandelions are blazing brightly 'neath the lustrous 

evergreen, 
While the robin chants his cheerup from the blossomed 

apple tree; 
The earth has newly dressed herself with gloss of 

glowing green, 
While tunes the water and the wind to gentle mirthful 

melody : 
But the petals soon are falling, for the note of spring 

is change, 
And the loving songs of sunshine to the blossom-bur- 
dened bough, 
Through the symphony of summer, and the dirge of 

winter range — 
Faithful promise of fruition is the springtime virgin 

vow. 



16 Outdoors and In 

PAGEANT OF THE DAY 

Dawn. 

We worship the Will 

Whose.panoply of color across the hills 

Proclaims the glory of the coming day. 

Noon. 

The hour is hushed with splendor; 
Awed at its own magnificence, 
It halts the processional of time. 

Evening. 

Majesty of sunset — creation's afterthought! 
Man, the key note of deep celestial harmony, 
Vibrates at the threshold of the infinite. 

Night. 

Whose mysterious affinity is death! 
To be unfolded from its starry mantle 
Are life's treasures : faith and love. 



Through the Year 17 

SUN SPLENDOR 

Now, when the scent of sweet briar rose is come, 
While honeysuckle lures the humming bird, 
And from the margin of the crested sea 
A touch of winsome wildness tangs the air ; 
Advances summer with her pageantry: 
Blazonries of blossom, and liveries of leaves. 
To myriads of murmuring insect bands, 
The dancing days parade triumphal jubilees! 

In aisles of woods are echoed symphonies ; 
The eddies in the shallows sing rhapsodies ; 
So soft the air, so warm the earth, 
So cool the waves — the smallest soul, 
To the subtle charm of Suntime beauty, 
Shall thrill into a larger growth! 



MY BROTHER 

An ugly toad 

With bulging eyes 

Emerges from the dirt at my feet, 

And sits composed 

Before my fragrant, pure, Madonna-lily. 

A convulsion of body and tongue ! 

My friend has swallowed 

My enemy, the grub 

That gnawed at the root of my ideal ! 



J 8 Outdoors and In 

(CINQUIEME) 

Summer ! 

Sea breezes, 

Gulls along shore! 

The sting of salt tears! Memories! 

No more! 



JULY SUN 

I ride the treetop seethes of green 

In my red chariot of fire; 

I blast young growth to feed my spleen, 

All life shall feel my ire! 



The humming bird is busy 
Down honeysuckle lane; 
He knows the peace and plenty, 
Man never can attain. 



Through the Year 19 

THE WANDERLUST 

Sometimes when summer breezes blow where swaying 

honeysuckles grow, 
Until they curtsey to and fro and dance with might 

and main: 
Ah! then I'll follow that far call, that lures in spring 

and laughs in fall, 
O'er flowered meadow, crumpled wall, and field of 

glinting grain. 

Perhaps, where rapid rivers run through lacy shadows, 

till they're spun 
To silver shimmers in the sun, I may catch among the 

gleams, 
Some simple meaning of the spell that draws me on 

o'er moor and fell : 
What it whispers, I'll not tell but store it in my 

dreams ! 



20 Outdoors and In 

A ROSARY 

Beauty, unseen, unheard, unknown, everywhere ! 

Every night unfolds a glistening myrmidon of wings 

Of moths in untrod woods; 
The sultry jungle flashes with glowing breasts 

Of birds ; the desert sings ; 
The chasm rings with ethereal echoes; 
On dizzy mountain heights, perpetual snows cover 
perpetual springs. 

Undreamed glories wait beneath the sea, 
Deep in the earth, beyond the stars so fair. 

Why should I dwell with sorrow or despair? 
Give my soul imagination's wings to soar 

To unfelt beauties that wait to share their faith with 
me! 



ALONG THE WAY 



ALONG THE WAY 



ALONG THE WAY 

Along the seaweed margined shore, 
We two found beauty on a summer day; 
It rose to us from all we saw and heard 
Along the way ! 

Among the woods and through the fields we found 
The springs of life and joy at play, 
And always peace like flowers bloomed 
Along the way ! 

Through storms of life, and all the wintry blasts, 
Such songs of faith our fears allay, 
We feel doubt but another beauty passed 
Along the way ! 



[23] 



2 4 Outdoors and In 

SELF CULTURE 

A smiling face to meet the sun, 

And all work is well begun; 

A generous hand with all day cheer 

Makes the hours glow bright and clear; 

Thankfulness at evening sung, 

And the heart its day has won! 



ALSO 

Solitude, trees, long walks, 
Stars, and open spaces 
Are as needful to the soul, 
As friendly hands and faces. 



JOY 

Joy is not knowing 
The end of the quest ; 

It comes in the growing 
To the highest and best. 

Joy has no faction, 
No crown after strife ; 

'Tis beauty in action, 
The motive of life. 



Along the Way 25 

WORK 

I dipped my pen in morning's glow 

And wrote my day; 
For every hour there was a flower, 

And life was play ! 

PHILOSOPHY 

To draw life 

From the sod; 

To find beauty 

In the clod; 

To feel the wonder 

As we plod: 

Is to know 

The smile of God! 

THEN ART THOU BLESSED 

Hast thou one friend who can share with thee 
The morning's splendor, the evening's tenderness, 
The taskful day, the solemn watch of night, 
The ineffable, unsounded music of thy lonely soul? 



26 Outdoors and In 

UNDER THE STARS 

Tonight, the meaning of this life is clear, 
'Tis writ by stars upon the heavenly blue ; 
Things insignificant and near 
Reborn to beauty, full and true. 

As wide as winds sweep on the sea, 
As strong as youth unclaimed by care, 
As warm as sunshine, and as free — 
Comes truth ! Now let the spirit dare ! 



CRY FROM THE CITY 

Give us a little more of open space of field and sky ! 

We want to tread the springy earth, and watch the 
stars go by; 

We long to fill the years of toil with sun and evening 
dew, 

And sing such songs of love and peace, as early shep- 
herds knew ! 

Within these bounds of brick and bands of glass and 

steel, 
We're souls bereft of birthright; like prisoned birds 

we feel. 
We must regain the footpaths of landhold, full and 

free; 
The glorifying hardihood of mountain, plain and sea ! 



Along the Way 2 7 

His children picking flowers; 
His good wife making bread; 
With such simple, golden hours, 
The soul of man is fed. 



WHOEVER YOU ARE 

If you can bring, for my great need, 
A faith untouched by power of greed, 
Through gentle paths of peace to lead; 
I'll heed! 



ULTIMA 

Across the burning desert as I go, 
My heart is set on mountain peaks of snow. 
All life curls on in limpid streams 
Toward some far, fair sea of dreams. 



MY LEADER 

His hand was friendship, faith and strength, 

Because his heart rang true ; 

And I could go all journey's length, 

If he would lead me through. 



2 8 Outdoors and In 

I KNOW 

Some radiance awaits us, brighter than the day, 
Some conquest, broader than this earth; 

For there, beyond the stars, eternity's at play 
With death, the festival of birth. 

The fulsome harmonies of life, we shall attain, 
And death's reward — only to despise — 

When vistas of heights more marvellous to gain, 
Alluringly, majestically shall rise. 

Then all our sense of Godhood, our beloved dream 
Of beauty, we patiently shall fold away ; 

Saying: "The gift of Jesus was but a gleam 
Of truth, along the way. 



Along the Way 29 

AN EPISODE 

A wonderful experience 

At one time came to me. 

As I went gathering flowers 

In sunset's golden hours, 

On cliffs before the sea, 

I saw a battered boat 

That drifted fast and free; 

And one sat bound with bands of gold, 

Whose wounds undressed, now plainly told 

Of hours of agony. 

With all my heart, I called to him. 

He turned his eyes to me ; 

And then, he drifted out of sight, 

The sky grew grey, and it was night, 

And death was on the sea. 

I cannot think, I cannot feel, 

My visions are not free ; 

My heart beats wild and will not rest ; 

The chains I saw around his breast, 

Have bound his pain to me. 



3° Outdoors and In 

FOR PITY 

On the dark side of the street, 
There are many weary feet 
Seeking peace. What do they care 
About the why or where of war? 
They have no part, they have no heart 
In any cause worth fighting for. 
They only wonder why their God 
Should bid them ever weary plod 
Along the gloomy side of life, 
And let the burden and the strife 
Rest on them, on them alone ! 
Oh ! God of love, make bloodshed cease, 
And to the weary, asking peace; 
For bread of life, give not a stone! 



WHO? 

Some lights are cursed, and some are blessed, 
Yet each a pathway shows ; 
And which to follow, as on he goes, 
Who knows? 

Some calls are wrong, and some are right ; 
Hate fills the earth with fears : 
The song of love and peace now nears ; 
Who hears? 



Along the Way 3 1 

TAKE MY ADVICE 

Why, man and woman, 
Do you walk the earth 
Like slaves, 
With your head down, 
And your toes up? 

Tread on your toes, 
Spurn the ground; 
Hold your head up 
To the stars, 
And own your own soul! 



? ? ? 

A call comes whistling through the sky. 
Who shall answer it, you or I ? 

Listen! Whisperings from land and sea! 
Are they asking help of you and me? 

Again, we hear a strange, far cry. 
Who'll go to the rescue, you or I ? 



3 2 Outdoors and In 

THE OPTIMIST 

With wonder it teems, my river of dreams, 

As it flows through this land of strife; 

It ripples and gleams with happy love beams, 

And refreshes the current of life. 

O'er my boat afloat on my river of dreams 

The promise of beauty beneficent streams. 



IN TUNE 

The stars are dying, 
The dew is drying, 
The crows are flying; 

The morn is mine! 

While youth prolonging, 
High hopes are thronging 
To test each longing : 

The day is mine! 

The fields are sunning, 
The tides are running, 
Life's lovesong humming: 
The noon is mine ! 

The dew is falling, 
Sweet sleep is calling 
To dreams enthralling: 

The night is mine! 



Along the Way 33 

THE MOTORIST 

We speed along 
Without a care; 
The road is long, 
The world is fair. 
We have no need, 
We do not seek; 
We only speed 
By shore or creek. 
The fields may blush 
With clover bloom, 
We onward rush 
Through forest gloom. 
The pines may scent 
The air with balm; 
For our content, 
The wayside charm; 
Yet we must leave 
It all behind, 
So do not grieve 
It! Never mind! 
Like restless tides 
That near the beach ; 
We make great strides, 
But never reach. 
On, on, we glide 
In fevered haste ; 
Speed is our pride ! 
No time to waste! 



34 Outdoors and In 

Let cannons boom; 

Let country call — 

We dread one doom, 

That is to crawl ! 

We pray the run 

Hold smooth and straight, 

And smiling sun 

To be our fate. 

Let tires keep new, 

And tanks well filled : 

Whate'er we do 

Let none be spilled ! 

We'll speed along 

Without a care; 

The road is long, 

The world is fair! 



WE FIND IT AS WE MAKE IT 

We sing of cities, bright with lights, 
Of seas and ports and novel sights, 
Of rushing trains o'er land and stream 
To fairer climes — the traveller's dream; 
Of mountain, chasm, gorge, ravine; 
Of sunset, sunrise, moonlit scene. 
Nature denies, unless we start 
With love of all things in the heart ! 



Along the Way 35 

ON PLEASURE BENT 

You may take the oiled road, 

And bowl along at ease, 

With never a passing thought for aught 

But getting where you please. 

I shall choose the sandy lane 
That winds along the trees ; 
While peace sits like a bride beside, 
And full enchantment weaves. 

You may make your motor speed, 
And set the newest pace; 
With Dobbin, I will plod along, 
Nor wear an envious face: — 

For you who roll on oil through life, 
Will miss the sandy lanes 
Where joys abound. So, jog on, Dob ! 
Contentment take the reins! 



SOCIALISM 

Better that bread and tea should reign, 
Than lobster Newberg and champagne. 



36 Outdoors and In 

COLLOQUIAL 

(triolet) 

Come out for a walk! 
What matter the weather ? 
For a heart-to-heart talk 
Come out for a walk! 
Oh ! how lazy to balk ! 
The house is a tether! 
Come out for a walk! 
What matter the weather? 

LIMITATIONS 

'Tis human nature seeks the flaw 
In all perfection's highest law; 
The aspiring soul may have its blots, 
As sun effulgent has its spots. 
Beauty, a mystery! Charm, unknown! 
The brightest outlook far from home! 
But human nature is not all ! 
Each soul may heed its larger call ! 



Along the Way 37 

SIMPLE FAITH 

(triolet) 

If the day has its song, 
And the night has its prayer, 
Then no heart can go wrong. 
If the day has its song, 
There's no fear of the throng, 
Or the world and its care. 
Let the day have its song, 
And the night have its prayer ! 



3§ Outdoors and In 

TIME! This 

Is my pattern of bliss: 

To work 

Where no evils lurk, 

To play 

A part of every day, 

To rest 

In my own home nest ! 



HOPE! You 

And I shall go through 

The hours, 

Gathering the flowers, 

We know 

In beauty must grow 

Beneath 

All shadows and grief ! 



LOVE! Why 

Do you grasp and die? 

Seal now 

Faith's sacred vow: — 

To ask 

Only the servile task, 

To give, 

And f orever live ! 



Along the Way 39 

WINTER SONG 

A golden moon 
Fills jewelled panes; 
A cold wind croons 
The snowy lanes; 

The ice floes break 
On the tide-torn shore: 
O Love, come take 
My heart once more ! 



LOVE 

Here is the map, and there 
The country we would reach. 
To speed the journey 
Youth would take 
Chariots of fire or wings of air ; 
Yet, only those who know 
How slowly, step by step, 
Through pain and weariness, 
In faith to walk; 
Love's land shall gain ! 



40 Outdoors and In 

(triolet) 

Love as its treasure, 
Fills life to the bound! 
Joy cannot measure 
Love as its treasure! 
The only true pleasure 
In pure love is found ! 
Love as its treasure, 
Fills life to the bound ! 



THE MESSAGE 

My carrier, against the window 

Was beaten by the storm. 
I soothed him with my trembling hands, 

And tried to make him warm. 

But as he colder, colder grew, 

One claw, uneasy, stirred — 
And bound to it I found a roll 

With one pale, blotted word — 

To you, who have a dear one dying 

On a far-off field of pain, 
Though dove should never bring you word, 

Love's message will be plain. 



Along the Way 4* 

AT DAWN 

Once, as I walked across the land, 
I met two warriors hand in hand ; 
The one wore laurel on his head, 
The other's eyes were spirit-dead. 
The one wore proudly crown and palm, 
And carried weapons on his arm; 
The other, brutal burdens bore, 
His hands and feet were bleeding, sore. 

I gave my heart unto them both, 
And then I made a righteous oath : 
That neither crown nor palm I'd wear 
Till love's great burden I could share. 



BEAUTY 

We do not think of cargoes, when a ship, afar 

Against the blue is seen ; nor hold a star 

A world remote; nor does it please 

The heart to count the leaves upon the trees ! 

Nor would it help maintain her joyous mood, 

If youth could analyze that attitude! 

With open heart, I watch the earth and sky, 

Lest immemorial beauty, so transient and so shy, 

Go unrecorded. Let faith reveal 

Its greatness, not in what we know, but feel ! 



A 2 Outdoors and In 

THE STARS BY NIGHT, THE CLOUDS 
BY DAY 

You'll find the time to work, 
You'll find the time to play ; 
But take the time to watch 
The stars by night, 

The clouds by day. 

Useless ? Ah, no ! For if you ask 
How best to live: no earthborn task, 
Or pleasure won, could show the way, 
As stars by night, 

And clouds by day. 

All joys of earth the soul may try, 
Lead downward to the clay: 
So learn to love before you die, 
The stars of night, 

The clouds of day. 

Look up! Look up! Enlarge your thought! 
All great and noble minds have wrought 
Perfections, because they looked away 
To stars by night, 

And clouds by day ! 



Along the Way 43 

THE HEAVENS ARE TELLING 

TO E. C. B. 

The stars are bright tonight; 
Though they are old, their radiance cold; 
Not all the glory of their story 
Has been told. 

Lend to each heart th' eternal part 
Of their pure fire, lives to inspire, 
Till Faith's clear ray, in breasts of clay, 
Flames ever higher! 

I know that Love above 
Holds planets true, holds me, holds you, 
With tender might to what is right 
To feel and do ! 

So old and young, unsung, 
Shall living, creep; or dying, leap; 
In the strong tide of truth to abide 
Through deathless sleep! 



44 Outdoors and In 

MY MESSAGE 

This is the message from my heart 
To all who care to hear: — 
Since generous nature does her part, 
And God is ready, near ; 
Of all the ideals born of dreams 
Hold righteousness and peace; 
Know the star of hope still gleams, 
And love shall never cease. 

THE CHAIN 

This life is like a metal chain, 
That slowly, link by link, we gain; 

And only when the last we hold, 

Shall we be sure which links were gold ! 



I'm nobody — dust — a cog 
In the wheel of time! 
For the eternal poem 
Perhaps — one rhyme! 

To become a melody 
Of the symphonic whole, 
One wonders if death 
Is the requisite toll! 



Along the Way 45 

SINGLE HEART 

We toil and struggle on our way, 
And often wonder: — does it pay? 
There's always hope while we can pray 
For evening rest and fireside play. 

We frown and murmur at delay, 
And long for good that's far away ; 
Until we learn that now, today, 
And near at hand, is Love alway. 



YOUTH 

TO THE "BOYS OF I917" 

Thy heart is stout within thee, 
The sky is fair above thee, 
The world is wide before thee 
Thy needs to fill. 

For e'er this planet saw thee, 
The fields were fashioned for thee, 
And friends were planning for thee 
With loving skill. 

So e'er grim doubt has caught thee, 
Or worldliness has bought thee, 
Go forth as love has taught thee, 
To do her will. 



46 Outdoors and In 

The old and fallen need thee, 
The wise and noble heed thee, 
And each and all shall speed thee 
With right good will ! 

SONG OF YOUTH 

So we'll sigh no more for sorrow, 
We'll fear not darkest night; 
There'll be joy upon the morrow, 
As long as hopes are bright. 

For as long as hopes shall brighten, 
The soul goes on its quest; 
A thousand burdens lighten, 
The way of life is blest. 



Along the Way 47 

I GO TO THE CITY 

To mingle with the crowd, 

To drift with its drift, 

To hurry with its rush, 

To feel its force; 

But I must come away, 

Because I fear the fangs, 

That sooner or later, 

Will sap my soul. 

If I stay too long, 

I shall stop growing. 

The city itself grows, 

But the individual, 

The man who makes his city, 

However great he may seem 

To himself, or to his admirers, 

Must dwarf, and become 

Insignificant, 

If he remains 

A part of the city. 

For the city whirls 

Faster and faster as it grows, 

And the best fly off — 

Centrifugal force — 

In individual tangents. 

No good nor great growth 

Can evolve from the coherent mass. 

In the heart of the whirling city 

Is the pivot of stagnation 

That can only sustain 



48 Outdoors and In 

Folly and futility. 

I go to the city 

To see its development; 

I GO AWAY FROM THE CITY 

To accomplish my own. 



THE LUXURY OF CLOUDS 

Here is something money cannot win or buy : — 

The luxury of sea and space and sky. 

I am so rich as I lie here and watch the clouds go by. 

What need of cities, pictures, of all men's artistry? 
Of all that craft and genius hold so high; 
While from my window I behold the pageant of the 
sky? 

Of palaces and treasures the soul of man may die, 
From man-made mundane pleasures, his eager mind 

will fly, 
But his heart with full content will watch the stars go 

by. 

Of cities or palaces, of men craft, what need I, 

When, from my windowed space of sea and sky, 

I behold uncounted wonders, while the clouds go by. 



Along the Way 49 

HOW IT SEEMS TO BE A STAR 

I am a star of the first magnitude ! 
The force that burns within me, 

Reaches you 
A calm, effulgent ray of beauty! 
To me, my life is torment, 

For myriads of ages, must I suffer 

To perfect that ideal, 
For which I was created ! 
I shall never even know whether 
The message 
Of my life has reached 

One human heart ! 
Yet I shall always feel, 

That time and space 
Were not mere limitations, 
But processes 
By which I could become 
A star of the first magnitude! 



Poet, 

It may be that your madness 
Is the ecstasy of truth ! 



5° Outdoors and In 

I 

Am not an experiment, 

Nor an expedient, 

Nor a material pose! 

I 

Am fluid in thought, 

Rythmic with emotion, 

Solvent to beauty ! 

I 

Am a radiance, 

Determined not in form, 

But in spirit ! 



Into the future my soul has gone, 
Unafraid of the world and its scorn; 
Into the future of dreams that glow, 
With only the light that love shall know ! 
Afar from hate that has tried my soul, 
Away from the folly that denied my soul, 
Forever from fear that defied my soul, 
Into the future my soul has gone, 
Bravely alone to be reborn ! 



ABOVE THE CLOUDS 



ABOVE THE CLOUDS 



LIFE WOULD FLY 

I will be the freest thing 

Under the sun. 
I will seek the poles of cloudland 

Till joy is won ! 

I will meet each threatening storm 

With steady will, 
And when fury bursts around me, 

Display my skill: 

But when night begins to fold 

The field and town, 
I shall toward the land of home 

Float gently down! 

THE AVIATOR 

I dare the abyss ; skim a shimmering cloud ; 
My dream-drenched thought no reasons dread: 
In the seventh heaven, no soul is allowed, 
Till its gamut of fear is cast to the dead ! 
[53] 



54 Outdoors and In 

FROM THE BATTLEGROUND 

Tonight I'll seek the dark, untravelled ways 
Across the hurried clouds, that tempest blown, 
Can know no peace. The dire, unholy moan 
Of vicious dread; the pale death haze 
That rests upon the plain; the hate that plays 
With fire from hands of steel and hearts of stone- 
Above all these, my soaring soul has flown, 
To try its own untravelled spirit ways ! 



THE AIR RIDER 

He guides his steed with steady hands, 
To rise contemptuous of all lands: 
Such untold wonders, he commands ! 

The brutal sea beneath him crawls, 

He scales the abyss, soars heaven's walls 

But should faith falter — then he falls! 



Above the Clouds 55 

ONCE TO EVERY MAN 

I floated once above the clouds, 

And saw below me vale and hill; 

No voice of commerce, nor of crowds, 

Could pierce that height, so pure and still ; 

Above illimitable space — 

Yet toward the earth I turned my face! 

Yes, all the ethereal realm was mine, 

In which to cleave my upward way ! 

Unlimited by mark of time, 

Untenanted by clamorous clay, 

My soul unfettered might advance, 

If, toward the earth, I should not glance! 

There came a moment to decide: 
Whether my self should nobly prove 
Its dream ineffable, or glide 
Within its trivial, worldly groove : 
Upward, with faith, my spirit burned, 
But lured to earth, my being turned! 

That moment lost, never returns ! 
Now, I'm immured in depths of night, 
But far and dim, above me burns 
The promise of celestial light ! 
How much we lose, howe'er we fall, 
The vision reigns above us all! 



56 Outdoors and In 

CALIBAN 

Thought- chained in some deep sea of darkness, 
Full-selfed, I satiated my soul with the slime left by 

crawling monsters ! 
Love called ! I looked up, and clearly above me, 
Gleamed the star, that for a trillion years, my worship 
had awaited ! 



THE INMOST SHRINE 

Ambition is to manhood, 

As waves upon the sea; 

Life's friction on my surface 
Stirs not the depths in me ! 

Not all the aims and purposes, 

That seem divine and clear, 

Can touch the inmost sanctity, 
And leave no sting, nor fear! 

Beyond the purest vision, 

Transcending highest faith, 

Each soul serene, enfolds a dream, 
Means more than life or death ! 



Above the Clouds 57 

DAS IDEAL DER SCHONHEIT 1ST EINFALT 
UND STILLE 

Within me is my God, 
Waiting to be my guide ! 
Shall I silence Him 
With futile activity, 
When I might be led 
To simplicity and peace? 

PRIMARY PHILOSOPHY 

In the stars, eternal verities we see; 
Hear in the deep diapason of the sea, 
Life's answer. Death is not our trend, 
But struggling upward, ever, without end ! 



58 Outdoors and In 

FLIGHTS 

TO C. C. N. 

I. Starlight. 

Here are the highways 
To immortality; 
Surefooted, each may walk 
To his star ! 
II. Clouds. 

Dreams, to soften the outlines 

Of reality! 

I have already chosen mine ! 

III. On The Ocean. 

A million waves mirror the moonlight ! 
My soul is seething with song ! 

IV. Evening. 

I mislaid time, 
When I found beauty ! 
V. Dawn. 

There was once a world 
Without cities ! 
How many centuries 
Have we slept? 
VI. Eternal Youth. 
We give, 
To gain ! 
We lose, 
To live ! 



Above the Clouds 59 



VII. Middle Life. 

Joy, I find I can swim 

In the blot I made 

On the universe ! 
VIII. To Death. 

My heart is song ! 

My soul is music ! 

This harmony, with life, 

You cannot take from me. 
IX. Above The Clouds. 

No eye hath seen ! 

No tongue hath told! 

Yet we know ! 



FROM SEA AND SHORE 



FROM SEA AND SHORE 



AN INTERLUDE 

TO C. A. K. 

Let not time intrude, 

While I rest on this soft, white sand! 

Smile Sun, blow Wind, 

For my ecstasy ! 

In the breaking crests 

Of the brave wave warriors, 

Are chimeras of chivalry; 

Soft seething shimmers of silver spray 

Rise like long lances, and fall, strings of pearl. 

In the rage and roar is no note of despair, 

For the boil and the brew 

Are battles of beauty. 

Beneath the turmoil and the rush 

Is the hush of unfathomed peace! 

Here are colors unnoted, shapes undefined; 

Music untrammeled, visions unrecorded; 

Activities never analyzed, 

And spirit never confounded. 

In the beneficence of the tide 

Are dreams beyond dreams, 

And behind this finite illusion of infinity, 

Shines truth supernal ! 

[63] 



64 Outdoors and In 

WITHOUT, WITHIN 

In the wind, I hear the tale 
Of the ships that never sail; 

On the sea, discern a wave 
That the shore shall never lave. 

And the noontide of the sun, 
Shows the shadow under one ! 

But, within, there speaks a voice, 
That bids my fearful heart rejoice 

"Child, no fate can turn thy soul 
From its pure and lofty goal!" 



THE COAST LIGHT 

See, a trail of warning, 
Flashes the purple night! 
The straying ship rejoices 
In the faith- restoring light! 

Let me face the sea of life, 
With cheer as pure and strong; 
A safety ray to struggling souls, 
Above the tides of wrong! 



From Sea and Shore 65 

MUEZZIN 

The sun across the creek is low, 

With crimson clouds along; 

And silver sand dunes softly glow — 

'Tis nature's even song! 

Into the deep cast fear and care, 

And join in peaceful praise and prayer. 



AT SOUTH SEA 

One by one the vessel lights go out, 

As tints of dawn awake the gleaming sands : 

And purple mists that veil the distant strands, 

With smoking shadows, pale, emotioned, weave; 

The glare of morn's bold passion to relieve. 

Soon, to the music of the murmuring lands, 

The sea, its mighty muttering expands, 

And daylight shouts the end of night and doubt. 

Wait ! Ere the moment of the sun returns, 
Angel memories must fold their wings and go ; 
Each soft illusion of the dark, obey 
The law of light. Pale dreams, away ! 
Now comes full tide of day to overflow, 
The earth ! God beneficent in glory burns ! 



66 Outdoors and In 

FURDUS STRANDS 

On the Furdus Strands, the Cape Cod sands, 

Sands soft and white, 
Sing the land-loved bay, the sun-drenched day, 

The salt-scented night. 
Free from worldly strain, 

Our bodies here possess 
The large unfettered boon 

Of mother earth's caress. 

On the Furdus Strands, the Cape Cod sands, 

Sands soft and white; 
The heart fully feels, and the sea-song heals, 

Life is love and light! 
We watch the gulls striving, 

But our hearts are at peace, 
For the soul-soothing whispers 

From the waves never cease. 



From Sea and Shore 6 7 

CRELTHOLME 

TO T. S. C. AND I. W. C. 

Across the fields and marshes, 
Each season's sunsets glow: 
My father's father bought this land 
Of Indians long ago. 

My people left this farmhold, 
Around the world to roam; 
But came back to the marsh-woods, 
Whene'er they longed for home. 

Familiar friends: — the salt creek, 
The seaweed piles of grey, 
The rock-strewn, far-off headland, 
The contours of the bay. 

The pageantiy of seasons, 
The legends waves have told, 
The memories that sweeten: 
Life treasures, as of old. 

The seal of generations 
Rests upon this place ; 
The faith they held shall hearten 
The future of the race. 

'Tis not the pace of season, 
The process of the tide, 
But human joy and progress 
That ever shall abide. 



68 Outdoors and In 

Write on the book of time 

One simple rhyme: 
"Hearts sadly out of gear, 

Safe harbored here!" 

AT CRELTHOLME 

(Villanelle) 

TO H. H. I. 

A wonder to charm the night, 
As flower that at twilight blows 
Into being and beauty bright ! 

As star, discerned from tower's height, 

Upon the spirit can impose 

A wonder to charm the night; 

So music that spells delight, 

Through simple word and feeling, glows 

Into being and beauty bright! 

Sun, storm and season write, 
That the moonlight may disclose 
A wonder to charm the night ! 

Born no thought, however slight, 
Yet through love's measure overflows 
Into being and beauty bright ! 



From Sea and Shore 69 

Human tongue cannot recite, 
Though the soul forever knows 
A wonder to charm the night 
Into being and beauty bright! 

TO MY MATE 

Help me upon the shores of time to choose a shell ; 
Then busily, while all around eternities may surge and 

roar, 
We'll fit our lives into the tale no tongue can tell, 
Where truth and faith and beauty mingle more and 

more. 

ABUNDANCE 

I planted trees and evergreens 

To emulate my towers; 

To rival California 

I filled my fields with flowers; 

So friends, and peace, and beauty 

Might occupy my hours. 

But if I leave this home of mine, 
A day, a month, or more; 
To welcome my return, I find 
New pleasures are in store: 
Real dreams I had forgotten, 
Or never dreamed before. 



7° Outdoors and In 

A GALE 

The wind is blowing free 
At Creltholme by the sea; 

But it does not matter if 
We both stick to the skiff ; 

For while I row for you, 
You steer for me! 



A TRIOLET 

Whoever comes shall take away 
Flowers and thoughts in a bouquet! 
The sometime rapture of the day, 
Whoever comes shall take away! 
From here, where work is always play, 
And every single month is May, 
Whoever comes shall take away 
Flowers and thoughts in a bouquet! 



A CAPE COD CHORTLE 

The blooming of the turf in spring, 
The booming of the surf in spring, 
Are pledges to the toast we sing: 
"The place we love the most in spring !" 



From Sea and Shore 7 1 

FLOTSAM 

Today, to walk by the sea, 

Is to feel the limits of place, 
And to plan if the soul were free, 

Explorations in space. 
Across the ocean, a shining trail 

Shows never a bar or turn; 
Faster than waves my wishes sail, 

For the untold tales, I yearn. 

Could I but float in the unknown deep, 
Perhaps to the silent North; 
Where glittering glaciers slowly creep, 
And send their giants forth; 
On the Sargasso once to gaze — 
To know the East and the West — 
To be lost for days in the wild sea ways, 
Tossed on the ocean's breast! 

What is the charm that calls from the breeze, 

Till all must be left behind, 
And youth fare forth on treacherous seas, 

Some faraway good to find? 
The answer will come with every tide, 

As plain as if writ on the sand : 
'Tis ever the farthermost seas that hide 

The coast of the promised land! 



7 2 Outdoors and In 

FROM QUISSET TO WOODEND 

Who once has trod these gleaming sands, 
And felt the salt spray on his cheek, 

Has roamed the woods and smelt the pines, 
For home and health will further seek? 



VACATION ON THE SOUTH SHORE 

Now, when the scents of new mown hay abound, 

When pines allure, and blossoms call, 

And sultry skies proclaim the sun enthroned ; 

Whoever shuns the jangle of the hurried town, 

The maze of brick, the snare of shop; 

And seeks relief from stifling strife; 

May find full joy in cooling groves, 

A healing tide in salt-sea spray ; 

And rest in peace of sand and sky. 

Soon faith renews, and hope returns, 

Until the treasured dreams of one long year, 

Shall bud and blossom into action here ! 



From Sea and Shore 73 

VERITAS 

Old friend of mine! 

Dear friend of mine! 

On silvery shore, 

'Neath singing pine, 

O'er shimmering sea, 

There comes to me 

The promptings of a thought divine : 

That I am yours, 

And you are mine, 

Past bonds of life, 

And bounds of time ! 



GREAT ISLAND 

Summer, with its pall of heat, 

Can never banish here 

The wealth of freshness, cool and sweet, 

From the white capped ocean near! 

SEA VOICES 

Come, rest yourself upon this silver sand, 
And let the luring voices of the sea 

Whisper the lore of many a distant land, 
In soft, mysterious melody. 

Whoever grasps the meaning of its tone, 

Has solved the wisdom of the ages gone. 



74 Outdoors and In 

CRAIGVILLE 

TO A. E. B. 

Here, every morning roseates its day. 
In whisperings aloft the pines, I hear 
Some legendry of beauty, on its way 
To recreate its far-off visions, near. 
Sequestered home, benignly fair, 
Enduring while the soul of man has need 
Of silent stars, or ocean's flare, 
Of lilied lake or vernal mead. 
Here time her wondrous tale would tell, 
In charms of color 'gainst the sunset sky, 
In flowered rune of bank or dell; 
While symphonies their magic ply ; 
Faint euphony of fluttering leaves 
The sea's deep murmuring interweaves. 



NAUSET 

The waves are capped today, 
And wild the winds ring; 
Above the dashing spray, 
The gulls shoreward wing. 
Not only on the shore, 
Tides tempestuous roll; 
They surge forevermore 
Through the human soul ! 



From Sea and Shore 75 

MONOMOY 

I walk the bleak and windy way, 
Along the marsh that loops the bay, 
And watch the wild white caps at play 
On Monomoy! 

Against the burnished beach, the tides 
In boisterous battalions ride; 
And fear is brooding, ocean-wide 
O'er Monomoy! 

Far out, the cruel, palling mist 
Lures to a death none can resist, 
The phantom ship, adrift, a-list, 
At Monomoy! 

Unknown the perils of the deep; 
Uncounted those the waters keep; 
Undreamed the loss of those who weep 
For Monomoy ! 

Ten thousand years of storm and sun 
Have welded land and sea in one; 
'Gainst life and joy, grim death has won 
Its Monomoy! 



76 Outdoors and In 

HYANNIS PORT 

(rondeau) 

Hyannis Port is debonnair; 
For sea and season placed aright, 
With pleasing features that invite 
The restless world to loiter there. 

True named, for wanderers, free of care, 
Find you safe harbor, day or night, 
Hyannis Port! 

Now, for the ozone in the air, 
For beauties seen in sunset light, 
For all the summer's keen delight, 
Few places with you can compare, 
Hyannis Port ! 

AN OFF SHORE TRAGEDY 

A wee wisp of a wave, born a waif near shore, 
Rippling gaily afar to join the big roar, 
By the wind tumbled, tossed out of its way, 
Was lost at the mouth of the big, broad bay ! 



From Sea and Shore 77 

WIANNO 

TO M. H. A. 

I am the happiest being that ever sat 
Upon the shore ! 
Such joy to watch a thousand waves, and then — 
A thousand more ! 

I see beyond the surf ; the gulls, the clouds, 
The deep blue sky! 
And far beyond the far beyond, are dreams, 
Both pure and high! 

I know not what tomorrow brings, or what 
Earth has in store; 
Prolong this feast of sea and sky, and I'll 
Not ask for more! 



78 Outdoors and In 



THE PLAYGROUND 

Here heart and brain will gather, 
As bees from nectared flowers, 

Life, full, fresh and fragrant, 

From South Shore summer hours. 

If brain fagged, worldly weary, 

Rest here one sunny day ; 
The shining beach will teach you 

You've been too long away. 

All youth, possessed with gayety 
May dance the liveliest tunes, 

The winds are piping merrily 
Along the sandy dunes. 

If you are old and lonely, 

And memory is pain; 
The sea and stars are nearer here, 

Old friends you may regain. 

If you could come with a smile, 
The fields, I warrant, will 

Return your gift a thousand fold ! 
Here's beauty ! Take your fill ! 

Here, age and youth invited 
Shall share all peace and joy; 

And each heart, to its fullness, 
Its own faith shall employ. 



From Sea and Shore 79 

A RUMOR OF WAR 

Hark ! The wind whispers ! The tide swells ! 
A mighty tempest soon shall roar, 
And human hearts, like empty shells 
Lie crushed upon the shore ! 



THE SAND SIREN 

Come children, 'tis twilight, 

And the firefly's aglow; 

We'll not wait for the moonlight, 

Nor the pale stars to show. 

We'll dance on the white sand, 

To the wind's wild strain, 

With light foot and lithe hand, 

Dance once and again; 

Then safe near the beaches, 

(Tall sedges and dry, 

That the sea never reaches), 

On a dune we will lie; 

We shall feel we belong 

To the sky and the sea, 

While we hum the weird seasong 

The merman taught me; 

We will drink of the rapture 

Of the clear, cool night, 

We will sing till we capture 

The seasoul delight. 



80 Outdoors and In 

Come, children, awaken! 
Leave your homes, come with me ! 
Or the places will be taken 
On my dune by the sea 

FROM MY WINDOW 

Shimmering shores and flowering fields, 
Bounded by the sea and sky ! 
While I watch the beauty each season yields, 
I hear the world go by. 

A SEA SPELL 

Attitude of morning to temper work or play ! 
Sunset satisfaction! Perfect human day! 



From Sea and Shore 81 

FOR JUNE 

TO MRS. E. I. M. 

Have you ever seen the Capeland 

In the joyful month of June; 
When the yellow blooms of heather 
Fleck around a silver dune? 

When the lupin purples woodland, 

And the sunslant — after five — 
Dainty moccasins, illumines? 

Then 'tis good to be alive! 

Have you ever heard the Capecall, 
While the thresher trolls his lay, 

And the pine tips grow their candles, 
Celebrating holiday? 
Taste the tend'rest checkerberries ; 

For the world, no longer strive; 
Here, the warm wood-odors welcome; 
Now 'tis good to be alive! 

Have you ever lived the Cape dream, 
World unfettered, fancy free? 

Chosen June-land, tuned to rapture ; 
Mystic, moodful of the sea! 

Whispers ev'ry breeze, a story: 
On enchantment, we shall thrive 

When we know, and love the Capeland, 
Where 'tis good to be alive! 



82 Outdoors and In 

MATTAKESE 

Where Mattakese low lies, 
The balmy pine breeze sighs, 
The eerie shore birds call, 
The sobbing wave-moan dies 
Along the silvery sea wall ; 
Adding poignant melody 

To ocean's mighty harmony: 
Where Mattakese low lies. 

At morn, the storm cloud looms, 
The waters fleck with foam; 

At noon, the tempest booms, 
And drives the wanderer home. 
The sunset music comes, 
Like color turned to tone; 
And beauties radiant arise 
Where Mattakese low lies. 

At night, the mystic rhyme, 
Like muffled beats of time, 

Forever lives and dies. 
From depths where'er it dwells, 
As a captive soul that cries, 
The sullen sea compels 

The saddest song that swells: 
Where Mattakese low lies. 



BY WOOD AND STREAM 



BY WOOD AND STREAM 



I WONDER! 

I heard the faintest call one night, 

From some tiny fairy sprite ; 

And though I sought the tallest trees, 

And searched the ground on hands and knees, 

I never found a single trace 

Of fairy foot in any place. 

Though often since I hear that call 
From pansy bed or garden wall; 
And when the meadow brook I pass, 
It echoes from the waving grass; 
I stand and stare with open eyes 
And wait a wonderful surprise: — 

Yet nothing, nothing can I see. 

I wonder why one calls to me ! 

Maybe that I am grown-up blind 

To dainty forms of fairy kind. 

Some wood-folk friend, to wish good cheer, 

Since I can't see, has let me hear! 

[85] 



86 Outdoors and In 

FOLK LORE 

"Where do the fairy folk live, my dear?" 
"All around you, now and here!" 

"What are they doing night and day?" 
"Playing work and working play!" 

"Please, you tell me what they know?" 
"That, my best can never show!" 

"Listen, you may hear them say: — 
'Dream, and learn no other way !" 



I KNOW A WOOD 

TO HELEN C. 

I know a wood in Yarmouth, 
Beyond the quaint old town : 
You scramble up a pine clad hill, 
And there stand looking down 
Upon a leafy mantled pond, 
With lilies for its crown. 

I know a wood in Yarmouth 
Where oaks and cedars meet, 
Within are cooling shadows, 
And moss for weary feet, 
Where honeysuckle overloads 
The slumbering swamp with sweet! 



By Wood and Stream 87 

I know a wood in Yarmouth 
Where pink Mayflowers grow 
And in the fall, the trees with gold, 
Cerise and crimson glow: 
Most wonderful when winter 
Transforms the pines with snow! 



ARBUTUS 

In the far deep wood, 
Hides the sweetest spray 
Of the flower of May, 
In its leafy hood! 



I am for the simplicities and the immensities; 
For the sea, and the stars, and the trembling leaves ; 
I enlarge my faith when I turn the sod; 
I fulfil my prayers as I work with God. 



88 Outdoors and In 

A RONDEL 

Through the autumn-gloried forest to stride, 
With health as a motive and joy as a spur; 
With one, and that one only by my side, 
Then life no greater happiness can confer. 

Should any dark future part me from her, 
The faith love attained would abide : — 
Through the autumn-gloried forest to stride, 
With health as a motive and joy as a spur. 

For hope ever beckons the heart world-tied, 
To the memory of things as they were; 
And however much the feet turn aside, 
Ever the fond dreams of youth shall recur : — 
Through the autumn-gloried forest to stride, 
With health as a motive and joy as a spur. 



By Wood and Stream 89 

TO THE GREAT OAK AT OAK LYNDE 

TO MISS A. L. S. 

O Noble tree ! 
May I, like thee 
Stand firmly, deeply rooted in my God appointed 

place, 
And raise my growth to heaven in beauty and in grace ; 
Rough barked outside to better stand the storm and 

strife, 
But soft, fine grained within, full of the sap of life; 
Spreading my limbs in a protecting way to all who 

seek my aid ; 
To those who suffer from the torrid day, a cool and 

peaceful shade; 
To those who fear the devastating storm, a kindly 
shelter show! 

May I, like thee, 
O Noble tree, 
Uphold my faith in God, 

And each year greater grow, 
Until I merit what is given, 
By what I can bestow. 



9° Outdoors and In 

FLORIDA MAGIC 

To sit beneath a tall liveoak, 
Draped with a mossy, silver cloak, 
And watch the flaming cardinals play 
Against a dark green glossy spray 
Of a magnolia, is a color dream 
Beyond an artist's wildest scheme! 



FEBRUARY FLOWERETS 

To Florida, of whiteness of the snow bereft, 
These tiny bits of brightness, like scattered stars, are 
left. 



By Wood and Stream 9 1 

FLORIDA WOODS 

Grey glooms of moss ! 
Long lace-linked loops, 
In wind worked looms, 
Weave waving fantasies; 
While murmuring tunes, 
In runes, sad, sweet, 
Sing slumberous songs 
Of sun and summer; 
And mid these streams 
Of pallid dreams, 
Gleams the green, 
The sheen and gloss 
Of vivid green. 
Magnolia leaves! 
Resplendent leaves! 
Each a moving mirror, 
Receives its glowing ray, 
And gives the bright 
Benison of the sun; 
The light of life ; 
The play of beauty 
The joy 

of day; 
Spring's spirit 

green, 
To all this 
wintery 
Of hopeless 
grey. 



9 2 Outdoors and In 

I walked away into the wood, 

And sat beside a tree; 

Then was I born to something good 

That had been dead in me. 

So freed from discord, and the wrong 

The war had done to me, 

I found my soul, Peace is its song, 

And Love its harmony. 



By Wood and Stream 93 

BY THE ST. JOHNS 

TO MRS. J. L. 

The changes and the glories of the river 

Lie below us ; above, glad skies keep festival. 

Greenth and warmth accompany us. 

Leaves shine and flowers bloom. 

We bask in noon splendors, in sunset glamours. 

Soft breezes, like the kisses of children, 

Melt upon the cheek. 

The spirit delights in winter's summer. 

The soul puts on its robes of peace. 

Here beauty bestows bounty, 

And life dispenses joy. 

Along the bambooed fringe of waters, 

Under the lace-looped arch of grey, 

To rattling palms and rustling oaks, 

The poet's path of wonder winds. 

The earth star gemmed with snowy flowers, 

The air heavy with fragrance of pine and 

jessamine, rose and honeysuckle. 
In February, along this way, 
We antedate the northern June. 
So pure, so soft the air, 
So green, fresh green the trees, 
So flower sweet the earth: 
Of love the tokens these 
That Nature freed from winter's snare, 
Does her best, untiringly to please. 

Florida, ipip. 



94 Outdoors and In 

SPRING SCHERZO 

The trees in tones of green are singing 

New strains of that old song, 

To which the buds and butterflies 

And bulfinches belong. 

The earth shrieks ecstasies in crimson, yellow, brown ! 

The sky is surely shouting blue, 

The water trumpets forth its hue! 

My twanging heart leads all the crowd 

Of spring rejoicers; it beats so loud, 

I fear in its own tides of song 'twill drown! 



ADVENTURE 

A little turn in the wood road, 

To you 
Is a little turn in the road; 
But it's ever a source of wonder 

To me: 
A twist of fate, in the line of hope ! 



By Wood and Stream 95 

FOR THE "JESUS AND ST. JOHN OF SIENA" 
By Rinturicchio 

TO K. T. T. 

Up from the river, two children came, 
With faces fairing pure and sweet; 
Across the flower-starred grass they came, 
And the petals kissed their tender feet. 
Child John, the gentle Jesus seeks : 
The far pale sky was blue to them, 
The earth shone bright and new to them, 
The soft wind whispered true to them, 
The smiling sun caressed their cheeks. 



96 Outdoors and In 

MESSAGE OF THE SPRUCE 

TO F. H. M. 

I've stood upon the ancient hills 

And watched the world below, 
While spring and summer clothed the rills, 

And winter ployed its snow. 
My feet were planted in the streams, 

With clouds around my brow ; 
And rolling grandeur framed my dreams 

A thousand years, as now. 

The chilling winds, the mighty blast, 

My sturdy breast have torn; 
And through the valleys, dim and vast, 

D irk mysteries are borne ; 
If ever fear should stalk amain, 

Far up the mountain slope, 
I'd hurl it to the depths again ; 

For on the peak lives hope. 

Forever on th' aspiring heights, 
All hearts shall ask for peace, 

And worship God in nature's rites, 
Till th' eternal hills shall cease. 

Jackson, N. H., igi6. 



By Wood and Stream 97 

NEW BIRTH 

I'll live no more by claw and fang, 

Or feed my greed at expense of the whole. 

Let truth now pierce, teach with its pang, 
Self is a loan from the oversoul. 

I'll win no more by hand and brain, 

For the mastery of man to seek; 
Aggrandisement for me, means pain 

To the simple, trusting, and the weak. 



9 8 Outdoors and In 

FROM THE OLD, OLD PINES 

TO M. I. J. 

The charm of the centuried forest here, 
Brooding quiet, with mystery near; 
Inviting the soul, like the quest of truth, 
That wakes and engages the fire of youth. 

By way of the columned borderland cross 
The silken woof of silencing moss, 
Enter the sky-domed cathedral of dreams, 
Where stately-shadowed sunlight streams. 

Here ever and on the years shall flow, 
With freshning rain and caressing snow, 
Weaving the grey and emerald glooms, 
With the warmest tones in beauty's looms. 

Simplicity here has raised her throne, 
And peace an altar of its own, 
Where worshippers bend not the knee, 
But choir full-chested ecstasy. 

Throne of the land, plume-crested dome ! 
Though restive, far remote we roam, 
We shall ever in midst of toil or song, 
To you, loved woodland home belong. 



By Wood and Stream 99 

And filling the heart, your voice, so dear, 
Faithfully prompting, hopefully clear, 
Is chiming : "Dream on, nor wake to learn 
The force that nature's touch can spurn !" 

"Sing on, but ever with soul in tune 
With some sweet, simple, wildwood rune!" 
"Love on, but only with heart as true 
As that in nature is beating for you !" 

West Yarmouth, igix. 



OF FIELD AND TOWN 



OF FIELD AND TOWN 



TO BEAUTY 

Beauty, we have seen your face, 
Hiding in the dreariest dawn, 
And your noble form we trace 
Through the ugly and forlorn. 

Nothing known can fill your place: 
So sway all those whose hearts are cold, 
To wickedness and sin efface, 
By seeking thee to have and hold. 



EGO 

That my songs suit not your taste, 
Matters not. I mUst sing! 

Flowers the lonely desert waste! 
Joy is in the blossoming. 



[103] 



io 4 Outdoors and In 

BUTTERFLY WEED 

Red gold burns in the meadows, 
And burnishes the plain ; 

A fallen bit of the July sun, 
Butterfly weed again ! 

They need no chart nor compass, 
When homeport shines so bright; 

'Tis an ample honey harvest, 
Where thousands may alight. 

We feel that toil is beauty — 
The world is planned aright, 

Since humble bread to the insect, 
To man is a gorgeous sight ! 



GOLDEN ROD 

On a landscape, 

Greyed and browned, 

Nature strews her gold around. 

Lo! the barren waste is crowned! 

A pile of dust 

Has sceptre found. 



Of Field and Town 105 

TO BE ASKED OF SUMMER 

Where does the butterfly sleep at night? 

Does it poise upon a dainty flower? 
Or of soft leaflets make a bower, 

And fold its wings till morning light? 



DANDELIONS 

Children of the sun, holding festival in May, 
Bringing cheer to the heart, brightness to the day ! 
Whoever dares uproot these darlings of the lawn, 
Creation's plan of beauty, invades with human scorn. 



io6 Outdoors and In 

JOE PYE WEED 

Did you see Joe Pye? 

Unquestionably I 

Did see Joe Pye ! 

Joe Pye, standing high, 

With feet in the mire; 

Joe Pye, standing higher 

Than reed or briar! 

Thousands of him! Millions! 

Like proper postillions; 

Dismounted, 

Uncounted ! 

Much vaunted, 

Yet ever undaunted! 

Purplish red-headed, 

In greenish muck bedded, 

To swamp borders wedded ! 

Some high, and some dry, 

Some a pond nigh, 

Some a bog in or by : 

All against the sunset sky 

Tremendous Joe Pye! 

Stupendous to the eye! 

Good bye, Joe Pye! 

Your glory will die, 

The years will go by; 

But never shall I 

Forget you, Joe Pye! 



Of Field and Town 107 

FIELDS OF PEACE 

FLORIDA 

While through the land of pine and palm, 
We wandered feebly, arm in arm; 
If nations throbbed with war's alarm, 
We fared with peace, and dreamed no harm. 

CINCINNATI 

Ages of doubt, 

And seasons of dread! 

Put them to rout ! 

They're not of the heart, but the head ! 

CAPE COD PREPAREDNESS 

Blue and white, pink and yellow, 
Wonderful banners spread 
By Company Columbine. 
Each gentle, peaceable fellow 
Cheerfully nods his head; 
And instead of fighting, prefers 
Storing with honey, his spurs, 
For friend or foe to dine. 

CRELTHOLME 

The chimera of patriotism 
Shall not disturb my soul; 
Beyond the claim of clan, I choose 
The federated whole! 



108 Outdoors and In 

JACKSONVILLE FROM OAK LYNDE 

I see a mystical city arising, from clouds of silver it 

gleams, 
Like the magical glitter of Arras, a Parsival vision of 

dreams. 
The music of morning veils it in mist, and vestures 

with smoke: 
Pathetically solemn, remote, with the silent river 

between. 
At noon's high note, it glistens with life, and at sunset 

it glows 
As a crown of opals, with inward fire of beauty 

agleam ! 

FLORIDA PHLOX 

Earth with exuberance of sunshine and springtime, 

Blissfully blushes, and repudiates winter, 

In plasms of pink and plashes of crimson; 

A sea of florets, seething with color! 

No nearer ! I drown ! Let's away, lest we smother ! 

MAY WE MOST LOVE 

Not what we find and note, 
Not what is understood: 
But the unvoiced and remote, 
Unattainable good. 



Of Field and Town 109 

A TRILOGY OF TRYON, THE BEAUTIFUL 

TO H. P. C. 

I. TRYON, THE BLUE 

Warm grey mauve of the mountains 
Mingles with the cold steel blue of the sky; 
Violet shadows across mist veiled valleys 
Are disclosing vistas of indigo depths ; 
While ultramarine masses of tumultuous clouds 
Are lashing the vortex of imperial heaven ! 

Lo ! One pristine silvery star 

Dispels the murky gloom, 

And promises a tomorrow 

Of cerulean brightness! 

II. TRYON, THE RED 

Rose-tipped are the sunshine hills of this spring-mad 

land, 
To madder maturing, under the garish glare of noon. 
Gay garments of green grass, and fairy veils of bloom, 
Cannot completely cover the naked red of bruised 

hillsides, 
Cannot hide the blood-like wounds in storm torn 

vales ; 
And the clamorous clay, hot as the sun, 
Seething through the afternoon shadows, 
Glows like the central fires of earth, 



no Outdoors and In 

And shows, under the sunset glorious, 

As coals beneath the grate of the world 

To light the lamps of heaven. 

Tryon, the red, Indian, savage, 

With full flowered garments of verdure, 

Sits in solemn magnificence, 

Alone in the peaceful valleys, 

Touched with the red of health and beauty, 

Never with that of bloodshed and carnage. 



III. TRYON, THE WHITE 

In the morning, from mists pale and pure, 

Far above the fading shadows of night, 
Emerges the Pearl of the Mountains 

In flowery vestments, youthful and bright. 
To her virgin smile the hills respond; 

Her song is the call of nature's queen, 
That the plains shall answer and the peaks applaud, 

When to the music of that sun-tuned symphony, 
Blessed with bridal adornments of spring time joy, 

She wakes to greet the King of Peace! 

Tryon, North Carolina, April, ipiy. 



TRYON, THE PATRIOT 

A town made red, white and blue by signs of nature, 
And by the symbols worn in the hearts of her people. 



Of Field and Town m 

THE WAR MOTHER 

I'll bear no child for greed of State, 
For iron death, or life of hate! 
Gently down the dreams of peace, 
Their baby fingers beckon me! 
Dear ones, wait till wars shall cease, 
Then shall thy mother long for thee! 

November, ipi6. 

CHARLESTON 

A city of the long ago, 

Now clogged with the dust 

And delapidation of a departing commerce, 

Overrun with the dusky 

Sons of Ham, 

A shadow in the sunset 

Of its former social glory. 

A city of memories and echoes, 

Of fragrance and frivolity 

Long since subdued by sorrow's step. 

A city of that long ago, 

When spacious homes of ancient mold 

Near the sea, where Southern belles 

In dignity and beauty flowered, 

And softest strains of music flowed, 

And balconies on moonlight nights 

To cloistered gardens whispered 

Secrets dear to youth and chivalry. 

Charleston, S. C, April, ipi6. 



112 Outdoors and In 

CHARLESTON 

A new touch of life ! 

A new tide of splendor! 

A new song that springs 

From sources long asleep ! 

At last, this quaint old city, 

No longer content to backward crawl, 

Begins to forward leap ! 

April, ipip. 

CITY CITATIONS 

Boston : — 

"I am old — so old ! 

And my heart is cold ! 

But memorials, my brain repeats 

Of all the great that trod my streets. 

New York : — 

"I am high — so high! 

Please look up and try 

To sense my greatness 

By your dizzyfying faintness! 

Washington : — 

"I am great — so great! 
At my portals powers wait, 
At my nod nations fall, 
For I make or unmake all ! 



Of Field and Town 113 

Chicago : — 

"I'm alive — all alive! 
Other places with me strive! 
When the last word has been said, 
It will be: 'Chicago led!'" 

San Francisco:. . 

"I am fair — so fair! 

Queenly cruel, debonair! 

My secret you will never know! 

But if you come, you'll never go !" 

Chattanooga : — 

"I am kind — so kind! 
In my streams and mountains find 
A welcome ! For you I hold 
Nature's generous gifts untold! 



TOWN VERSUS MAN 

The town has a soul to lose, 

Its goal to win, 
And every time the town will choose 

The safest sin. 

Each man has a soul to win 

Safety from sin, 
Against the town must toil and slave 

His goal to win. 



ii4 Outdoors and In 

FREEDOM'S VOICE 

You bid me live, and yet, 

No war can ever pay my debt. 

I am the individual soul, 

Lost in the panic of the whole. 

Cowards will ever do me ill, 
Whatever race of man they kill. 

Fear me, you lose your power! 
Love me, your cause shall tower! 

Why grovel, earth bound, in the dark? 
Look up and trust the rainbow arc! 

I perish from the land whose law 
Proclaims there is no way but war. 

Only in the peace men scorn, 
Shall I, now dying, be reborn. 



Of Field and Town "5 

THE CURSE 

It is not the wind of the willows, 
Nor the wail of the mourning reef ; 

It is not the wreck of the billows, 
Nor the burden without relief; 

'Tis the sigh from a million pillows 
Of simple motherhood grief! 

The land that an army tramples 

Makes not the loudest plea; 
The ruin of towering steeples 

Tears not the heart of me; 
While the sons who die for the peoples 

Through their mother's tears I see. 

Not from the miles of trenches, 
That resound with brutal strain; 

Not from the power that bridges 
The crevasse of death for gain; 

But the curse of all the ages 
Is motherhood's cry of pain. 

August, ip 1 6. 



THE MELTING POT 

Better the crust from the edge of strife, 
Than the noisome scum of the boil and stew ; 
Better a hold on the rim of life, 
Than to whirl in the depths of the hellish brew. 



116 Outdoors and In 

A PRAYER 

Give all this world of homes full peace, 
Tis greedy state-craft grasps the sod: 
The hearts of men, if wars should cease, 
Would find one country and one God! 

May, 1915. 

BIRTHRIGHT 

TO H. C. W. 

When I am afoot in woods or fields, 
How far away the proud world seems ; 

To peace my weary spirit yields, 

Content in my promised land of dreams. 

The friendly touch of the gentle breeze, 

The kiss of the sun, the sting of the rain; 
I cherish them all, my friends are these, 
That welcome the wanderer home again. 

I forget the push and the jostle of clan, 
The trumpets of trade, and the copper heel 

Of civilization. Ah ! The wiser plan 
Is to simply live and truly feel, — 

Finding each moment a purer joy, 
A keener kinship with nature's God : 

Once more like a happy trusting boy, 
I walk the ways the poets trod. 

Summer, ipn. 



Of Field and Town 117 

A PAGEANT 

TO E. I. K. 

Life and loveliness in spells, 
The whirl of color magic brings ; 
And moonlight mystery that dwells 
Where fairy like enchantment springs, 
While children's faces, fair and bright, 
Transcend the wonder of the night. 

Life and loveliness in balms 

That lofty strains of music hold, 

While youthful zest, with graceful charms, 

Poetic pageantries unfold; 

And disappearing, leave a part 

Of all that beauty, in the heart. 

Assonet, Mass., Aug. 31, 1917. 



TO TONE AND TUNE 



TO TONE AND TUNE 



MELODY 



Under the golden floodlight 
Of the sun-blessed day, 
My soul fares forth in rapture 
Its own enchanting lay. 

For youth and the zest of doing, 
And love are but a part; 
The whole of life is music, 
And song springs from the heart. 

Delight, not earth, we're treading; 
Sorrow, and years, and rain 
Are discords that faith resolves 
Into the heavenly strain. 



[121] 



i22 Outdoors and In 

In music's running rivers, 

I feel no solid ground; 

My sense of beauty shivers, 
My soul spins round and round! 

In music's peaceful waters, 
I sink to depths profound; 
Here is the soul's diapason, 
Its native bedrock found! 



VISION 

A tender melody begun, 

Rose petals dropping in the grass, 

A harmony of cloud and sun: — 

So life will sing itself at last; 

And dreams that come from over there, 

Soft radiance of love will bear. 

Though age too soon, or youth too late, 
May wake the music of the heart; 
That blossom time of joy so great 
Will mold us with a master art, 
Till life shall sing through all its pain, 
And love, its lustrous beauty gain. 



To Tone and Tune i 2 3 



HARMONY 



When music whispers to the soul, 
Impulse divine is stirred, 

Till in the universal whole, 
A new pure voice is heard. 



THE OLD MASTERS 

TO H. S. B. 

Quaff the jewelled cups that caught 
The encircling strains of beauty taught 
To the lonely ones, the pure of heart, 
Weavers of a wondrous art. 

Ring in the golden chimes of thought, 
With limpid tones by masters wrought; 
That burn the webs of old desire, 
With harmonies of heavenly fire. 

Adown the slanting ages ring 

The songs these strong celestials sing! 



i24 Outdoors and In 

ALTER IN EGO 

I once heard a riot of 
rollicking, rancorous 

ragtime, 
From a distant phonograph, 
Through the soft musical 
pattering of the 

rain. 
A lesson profound was 

impressed 
Upon my weary senses : 
Nature's voice convey's balm 

and balance. 
Only from self-imposed 
ideals of pleasure, comes 

pain. 



What poetry and music give, exalts us to the skies 
Then let us ever fully live, not merely improvise. 



To Tone and Tune 125 

MUSIC 

Its babyhood, with cheerful grace, 
Wreathed roses round its cherub face. 

As it developed strength each day, 
It rhythmed joy in tones of play. 

Its early childhood treasure books, 
Were raptures of the birds and brooks. 

With love and sunshine to its fill, 
The youth of music tuned its trill. 

But as it older, larger, grew, 
Much too discordant pain it knew. 

Mid cruel strains of doubt and strife, 
It wrought the harmony of life. 

Yet while it met the battle's wrath, 
It kept the faith of home and hearth. 

And torn twixt fiends of earth and air, 
Renewed itself in praise and prayer. 

And even under prison bars, 

It voiced the choiring of the stars. 

Of earthly gifts, I now contend, 
The heart can have no greater friend. 



I2 6 Outdoors and In 

A friend to cherish, not abuse; 
A friend to uplift, not amuse. 

A kingly guest with every grace, 
Upon the throne of thought to raise. 

Oh! God of Harmony, defend 
From silliness, the soul's best friend! 



THE DOMINANT 

I cannot fit my melody 

To those who nose for novelty; 

Or soil my soul with plodding, 

To keep convention nodding. 

What is mine, I toil to tell, 

And take my chance of heaven or hell ; 

But when I have no love to bring, 

Then let me ever cease to sing. 



THE LEADING TONE 

We hear in every sweet bird note, 
Something unattained, remote. 
Then truly heed the highest call ; 
We may succeed, we can but fall! 



To Tone and Tune I2 7 

DIMINISHED OR AUGMENTED FIFTHS 

I love the cheerful quivers 
From birds at soft grey dawn, 
But the passioned sobs and shivers 
Of opera I scorn ! 



HARMONICS 

Love, like some far off, unknown tongue, 
Sounds strange and weird, by another sung; 
Yet when self catches up the strain, 
'Tis a familiar old refrain. 



128 Outdoors and In 

SUNG BY THE YEAR 

My song begins in April, 

When daffodils delight; 

As birds of May begin to trill, 

My melody is light : 

For June I tune a rapture, 

And joy with all my might. 

My July glee will capture 

The mad midsummer sprite. 

In August I shall thrum and drone 

The wizardry of night. 

September's beauty, I'll intone — 

Her ardent proselyte. 

October's my pastoral, 

In praise of colors bright. 

November's thanksgiving, 

Homing hosts recite. 

In my December carol, 

Let all the world unite. 

From January's minstrelsy — 

A roundelay of white, 

Through February's discords I 

Dream th' harmonic height. 

March with martial rhythm thrills 

My minstrel lay, till birds invite 

In April with the daffodils, 

New paeans of delight 



To Tone and Tune I2 9 

And so my tune in months may flow, 
With many a shade and light, 
Till all the sons of men shall know, 
And with my songs unite. 

SUNG BY THE MOON 

Shine Orion ! Glow Pleiades ! 
You cannot diadem the night, 
While o'er the river, through the trees, 
My silver loop is crown of light! 

Oak Lynde, March, ipip. 

THE COMPOSER 

From birds and flowers, skies and streams, 
He gathered charms to ease his heart, 

Till in the workshop of his dreams, 

Nature wrought her wondrous art 
In music, life had never framed, 
Deeper than any speech can show; 

And out of his supergenius flamed 
Beauty, transcendent in its glow ! 

Mozart, Jan. 27th. 



i3° Outdoors and In 

SONG OF THE SOUL 

I rise, for love, from the heart to the eyes, 
Pure as the light from the evening skies. 
I am a flame 

Without form or name ! 

I burn in the breast, 

And throb in the head; 

This flesh must be led 

On the holiest quest : 

Self must spurn things, 

And borne on my wings, 

Reach the ineffable, blest. 
Life and joy are a-tune, 

And sweet is the rune 

That hope croons for its lay; 

The gifts of faith stream 

Through my soul led dream, 

On, on to the perfect day. 

I shall soar and sweep, 

And flame like, leap 

Into the one great ray! 

January, ipoi. 



To Tone and Tune J3 1 

TO THE JUNE BRIDE 

(triolet) 

Lavish flowers of Spring 
To furnish her wedding! 
New carols, birds, sing! 
Lavish flowers of Spring! 
Tune Merry Bells ! Ring ! 
If tears you are shedding, 
Lavish flowers of Spring 
To furnish her wedding! 



A WISH FOR THESE TWAIN 

TO W. M. W. AND A. C. W. 

If of blocks of joy, 

Their home is to be built, 

Let it securely be bound 

By rivets of sorrow 

To some noble foundation of faith. 

Let the interior accumulate 

Bright furnishings of peace: 

Hope-lightened drudgery 

For each day's growth ; 

Fireside intimacies, 

With the flowers of song 

And the treasures of poetry. 



i3 2 Outdoors and In 

And while the years roll, 

May simplicity be invited, 

And ideals entertained. 

May truth abide as a welcome guest, 

And the music of the heart sing itself 

Until, in the end, 

Realities shall have wrought 

One perfect home out of two lives. 



TONALITY 

My soul is a vivid, vital force 
That leaps the scale of life ! 
That life a short elusive fragment 
Of the melody divine! 

June, 1 918. 



UNRESOLVED 

Within, the firelight glow ; 
Outside the fierce gusts of snow ! 
Is life the gifts the seasons bring, 
Or the song we choose to sing? 



To Tone and Tune J 33 



THEY ALSO SERVE WHO WEEP 

A mother who had lost her way, 
Seeking her son in depths of hell, 
Had crooned a simple nursery lay 
The anguish of her heart to quell. 
When wondrously to music's spell, 
All those poor souls long gone astray, 
Arose their darkness to dispel, 
With eager games of childish play! 

Sing to me, love! 

Your voice, my soul is wafting to the skies, 

And opening wide the gates of Paradise! 

Sing to me, love ! 

Until all reality and mystery shall blend 

Into one perfect rhythm that shall never end ! 



TO ONE 

My heart door is both high and wide, 
That you may enter in with pride; 
Its windows view the far away, 
And let in every sunny ray. 

Its love foundations are so deep, 
In peace securely you may sleep ! 
In my heart I hope you'll stay, 
Housed forever and a day. 



J 34 Outdoors and In 

SONG 

The Spring awakens to her song, 
And flowers to her smile, 
And you should see how birds do throng, 
Her praises to beguile! 

The stars were kind when she was born, 
And fairly since that hour, 
All beauty doth to her belong, 
Her womanhood to dower ! 

Sore hearts are lifted by her song, 
And strengthened by her smile; 
And I — her praises could prolong, 
Who is my queen, the while ! 



TO FLORENCE 

Today, the wallflower blooms for you, 
The little linnet sings for you, 
And clouds are hurrying through the blue 
To celebrate. My heart will too! 

May 5th, 1916. 



To Tone and Tune *35 

MAY 5th, 1910 

Our Florence, the daughter of May 
Is Flora, the goddess of flowers : 
The May buds sing praises today, 
The roses are counting the hours. 

In the soul that shines from her eyes, 
The woods and the fields rejoice; 
While the birds are mute with surprise 
At the heart that sings in her voice. 

The grass grows soft for her feet, 
The trees with banners are gay; 
The winds are piping, soft and sweet, 
A birthday roundelay. 

The sky with its blessing of blue, 
The sea with its murmur of spring, 
And hearts that are kindly and true, 
To Florence their offering bring. 



J 36 Outdoors and In 

RONDEAU 

To you, I sing, whom hopes assure 
Hath all the charms that can endure, 
To you, whose autumn in my sight, 
Is fairer than pale spring's delight, 
Unpurified and immature! 

And to your voice, a golden cure, 
That no disease can long endure! 
And since your song is joy and light, 
To you, I sing' 

But most unto your lov so pure, 
That holds mine in a bond secure! 
The truth in you burns clear and bright, 
A troubled world to set aright! 
Ah, soul of faith, so, strong, secure, 
To you, I sing! 

May, igi8. 



To Tone and Tune i37 

A BOUQUET 

She is the daughter of May, 
The hiding arbutus of flowers, 
That brings to the dreariest day, 
Springtime's sunniest hours. 

The May time shines in her eyes; 
That guide was ever my choice. 
And often I'm dumb with surprise 
At the May time in her voice. 

For she is the Queen of the May, 
And rules all the world for me, 
Forever more and a day, 
In a kingdom close by the sea. 

May 5th, 1917. 



*3 8 Outdoors and In 

AN ODE 

She rises 'fore the rosy dawn; 
In truth, she puts the dawn to scorn, 
And all the birds attune to sing, 
As soon as she 'gins carolling. 
The likes of her was never born ! 

The very stones adrift the street, 
Are kind as maybe to her feet; 
The gale is gentler where she goes, 
And winter never reds her nose: 
My altogether pure and sweet ! 

She has no time for fad or style, 
But taste and fitness win her smile. 
No tricks she knows to make her fair, 
But freshness of the sun and air 
Procures the charms, all hearts beguile. 

Sweet woman of the simple way, 
With nature like the light of day, 
Go scatter o'er this sad, hard wold 
The sunshine of your heart of gold, 
Forever and a day! 

May, 1898. 



To Tone and Tune i39 

TO MY LADY 

To her doth song belong, 

And all her days, the world will raise 

Its heartful voice, that shall rejoice 

To sing her praise. 

No hap can harm her charm, 

For if she sighs, soft strains arise, 

That wondrous seem, like angel dream 

Dropped from the skies ! 

Seems all mistakes she makes, 

Bring good from bad, and gay from sad. 

Come life's treasure in full measure 

To make her glad ! 

May, 1915. 



140 Outdoors and In 

ANNIVERSARY 

Somewhere tonight, along the heavenly space, 
His little soul is wandering free; 

And though I nevermore may see his face, 
His smile forever reaches me ! 

So many years ago he left this earth, 
He may remain in beauty and in light; 

Hate cannot reach him with its hellish mirth, 
Nor any war-begotten loathsome blight. 

Some lofty music have his parents dreamed, 
Too beautiful to realize till life is done; 

Sometimes his mother and I wonder 
If it's a message from our little son! 

July 31. 



To Tone and Tune 141 



TO F. H. C. 



My faith in you, my loved one, 
Is more than words can say: 

My gleaming star of night time, 
The sun to all my day ! 

Wherever souls may wander, 
Wherever dreams have led, 

My soul shall ever follow yours 
Till all is done and said. 

Your song shall be my vision, 
Your smile shall free from care; 

Your love to me so sacred — 
I'll make my life a prayer! 

TIME AND ETERNITY 

The flowers are the treasures of day, 
The stars are the gems of night, 
But the children are shining jewels of clay, 
The crown of all human delight! 

All flowers shall wither away, 
The stars into nothingness go, 
But the children shall rise in the soul's bright ray, 
Lights that eternally glow. 



GARDEN WISE 



GARDEN WISE 



A SONNET 

A garden that tall evergreens embrace, 
Glorious with summer's sorcery, 
Within my heart abides. The mystery 
Of night has touched it, and the grace 
Of morning tinted every flower face. 
Dwarf beauties with becoming modesty 
Curtsy to royal dames, whose majesty 
No modern gayety can quite efface. 

Annual torches flame, biennial banners spread, 
Parade perennials in tapestries that time 
Alone can blend. When art is dead, 
And peace broods not o'er any clime, 
For Beauty's home; with all its powers 
My memory will plant old fashioned flowers. 



[145] 



J 46 Outdoors and In 

TO A. S. C 

I know a garden hidden from the street, 
Where bees and butterflies are busy all the day; 
A human haven, and a safe retreat 
From every noisy, worldly, weary way. 

Here, in the silent evening, visions of the past 
Rise with the sweet odors of the flowers ; 
And ideals of the poets framed to last, 
Are born among these peaceful bowers. 

The world goes on its own mad pace, 
While a new world stirs to beauty here; 
A gentler, fairer, stronger race, 
Whose hands are clean, whose eyes are clear. 

No shame of futile conquest pushed by pride, 
Or wicked wars that self sick nations rage: 
All visions here in perfect promise ride 
To favored lands where love's the only gauge. 

Returns translated each pure angel face 
That long eluded the rough hearts of men; 
In sweet simplicity and fulsome grace 
Shall flower the faith but dreamed of then. 

This garden has no message for the crowd, 
Whose course demands sensation more and more ; 
But here the one who dares not speak aloud 
His sacred thoughts, may rest and soar. 



Garden Wise i47 

Not pleasure, nor the codes of wealth, 
Shall cause to stay, my better self. 
I'll keep my garden-visioned trust, 
Although it mean a cottage crust ! 

THREE MOONS 

There is a land of large delight, 
Where giftful gardens grow; 
There Flora wanders in the light 
Of three moons in a row ! 

O, let me come into this land, 
Sometime when day is gone, 
While ecstasy is close at hand, 
Between the dew and dawn ! 

Moon in the sky above, so wise! 
Moon mirrored in the lake! 
Moon paradised in Flora's eyes! 
Let me her heart awake! 



!48 Outdoors and In 

STEPS 

Out of the earth a plant, 
To struggle with its foes ; 
To them it gives its thorns, 
To me a perfect rose ! 

Out of the rose, for joy, 
Fragrance, beauty and youth, 
The essence, for those who feel, 
Of life's eternal truth! 

Out of the best we sense, 
Is born a brighter dream ; 
Thus, beyond all our knowing 
Shines some gift supreme! 



FRUITION 

Ideals, that never are attained, 

Lead darkness into light! 
The heart, that strives alone, has gained 

Its own majestic might! 



Garden Wise H9 

GROWTH 

My home grew in a garden, 
Akin to trees and flowers, 
And my high hopes have blossomed 
Among life's fragrant bowers! 

My heart grew in a garden 
Of human love and peace, 
And now my faith knows beauty's 
Perennial increase! 

PATIENCE 

Why do we dream of roses, 
When the garden is buried in snow? 
Ever the future encloses 
The beauty we're longing to know ! 

Why, in our hearts, keep thronging 
The visions that elude us so? 
Truly, faith is prolonging 
The ideal, that we may grow ! 



1 5° Outdoors and In 

THE GARDEN TRYST 

There is a lad in Europe ; 
Just where, she cannot know; 
Who loves this sweet old garden, 
And all the flowers that grow. 
Ah! Dear lad! From her, lad, 
Across the seas to go! 

There is a lass in Yarmouth, 
Who walks through sun and rain, 
Along the wintry garden rows, 
And wonders in her pain, 
If you, lad, her dear lad, 
Will ever come again ! 



YELLOW ROSE 

Rememberest thou, from long ago, 
The wondrous gold of Ophir's glow? 

Is fragrance your despairing sigh, 
Because the sun smites and you die? 

Dear flower, I'll whisper, ere you go, 
Why all my life, I've loved you so. 

I dreamed that beauty ere she fled, 
For your fair dower, her mantle shed! 



Garden Wise I 5 I 

SWEET ROCKET 

So tall! 

So white! 

So sweet! 
Should June miss 
Thee, Hesperis; 

No year 

Were quite 

Complete ! 

LADY GAY 

Once a year, a fairy passing 

In the night, 
Leaves behind a work surpassing 

Human might! 
Beauties by the thousands glowing 

Softly bright; 
Purity and grace bestowing 

On the sight! 
May be ramblers worth the knowing 

Dark or light; 
Gives no other rose a-growing 

Such delight! 

ARABIS 

Flower of May, your blooms are like the drifts of 
winter gone; 
Your scent foretells the honey of a summer morn! 



1 5 2 Outdoors and In 

ANTHEMIS 

[cinquieme] 
Gems of gold 
On grey-green! 
A dancing sea 
Of intensely glowing 
Sunlight sheen ! 

FLORA'S PAINT BRUSH 

Tell me, flower, bright and quaint, 
How did Flora mix your paint? 
Did she wash your face in dew, 
While you nodded in your bed, 
So that when the sun awaked you, 
You could blush a brilliant red? 

SALPIGLOSSIS 

[triolet] 

All spangled with gold, 
In gay colored dresses ! 
Bright revels you hold, 

All spangled with gold! 
The swain must be bold 
Who would pay you addresses, 
All spangled with gold 
In gay colored dresses! 



Garden Wise i53 



GOLDEN ALYSSUM 



Glorious, feathered, yellow sprays ; 
Pure, untempered sunlike rays; 
Even on the gloomy days, 
You are color's hymn of praise ! 



FORSYTHIA 

I wonder if the Maytime poet knows 
One wonderful and charming sight, 
How Forsythia effulgent glows 
Beneath fair Luna's pure soft light! 



PRUNUS PURPUREUS 

Today, pink pearls upon a purple robe she wears; 
Tomorrow, every bud will bloom a fragrant star; 
This promise of Maytime, for summer, jewels bears 
Of purple fruit. All beautiful, her seasons are ! 



J 54 Outdoors and In 

ARCTOTIS 

Dainty charm and elegance 

From root to petal tips ! 

Star of the morning, perfection adorning! 

You cannot keep 

Your head erect, while the lazy, hazy 

August afternoon slips; 

So you simply grace your curls 

Around your face for beauty sleep! 

When the chill of death, from other flowers 

Their beauty clips, 

Your living lavender breathes eloquence 

That never was from lips! 



CUPS OF CANTERBURY 

How came these cups of royal mien, 

In pink and purple tints 

Of silken sheen? 

Did Jove such jewel bowls of nectar sip 

But once, and cast aside ? 

The thoughts I reared through tears of pain 

These noble outcasts now have caught; 

And rearranged in joy and pride 

They splendidly acclaim 

The alchemy of sun and dew! 

Such gorgeous furnishing fits not 

The kitchen garden of my mind! 



Garden Wise 155 



In my soul's Alhambra'd courts 
This glowing show of giant gems 
Shall rightly range in regal row. 
To store the sweets of fantasy, 
And Beauty's overflow ! 



THE CHIMNEY BELLS 

(campanula) 

To K. T. T. 

Up from the earth these marvels spring, 
In white enchanting spells, 

Till all around, above me swing 

The stately chimney bells. 

Like myriads of silver stars, 
Transplanted from the night, 

And ranged in rows on emerald bars, 

To give the soul delight. 

As twilight on the garden falls, 
All sounds of striving cease; 

Each bell of Canterbury calls 

An Angelus of peace. 



J 56 Outdoors and In 

WALLFLOWER 

If something of the violet, more of the unknown; 

A fragrance unique, exquisitely your own: 

A gift of long-lost odors, distilled through winter's 

cold; 
Sweetness of Elysium, in springtime cups of gold. 

DAHLIA 

Dahlia, in her stiff old-fashioned 
Crinoline, was quite the grand dame; and yet 
Today we love her in her simple gown, 

And dainty collarette. 

CELOSIA 

Celosia! Feathers of flame! 

Beside your crested glow 

The pigments of art are tame ! 

The best that autumn foliage can show, 

The bird of tropic fame, 

Are put to shame ! 

MIGNONETTE 

I wonder, Mignonette, 
If you the legend know, 

That your sweetness is regret 
For the long ago? 



Garden Wise *57 

FOR NOVEMBER 

(triolet) 

Chrysanthemums today! 
What joy tomorrow? 
Life brings what it may; 
Chrysanthemums today 
Will brighten the dreary way, 
And lighten its sorrow ! 
Chrysanthemums today! 
What joy tomorrow? 

HOLLYHOCK 

As I worked one day 
At my kitchen sink, 
At my open window, 
What do you think? 
A little pink lady 
Smiled in at me, 
And nodded her head 
Most charmingly. 
And all summer long, 
In a wonderful way, 
She nodded and smiled, 
Grew taller each day, 
Till one frosty morn, 
In a little green cap 
She buried her face, 



I 5^ Outdoors and In 

And took a long nap! 
I hope that next summer, 
As I work at my sink, 
My heart will be cheered 
By my lady in pink ! 



POINT OF VIEW 

Head close to earth, 
To little me, 
Each tiny weed 
Becomes a tree ! 

But tiptoe rise 

To all my height, 

What seemed a tree, 
Is now a mite ! 



It rains from west and rains from east ; 
I know not which I like the least. 
To care how much, or why it rains, 
I'd have my labor for my pains! 



Garden Wise *59 

MESSAGES FROM MY GARDEN 

TO L. W. C. 

From my garden in the morning, 
Comes the rustle of the corn; 
Falls the pollen from the tassels 
When the silken ears are born ; 
And I hear the harvest whisper : — 
"I grow larger night and day, 
For the starving and the needy, 
Near at hand or far away." 

From my garden in the morning, 
Smile the roses red and white; 
Lures the honeysuckle sweetness, 
Errant humming birds in flight; 
And I hear soft voices calling; — 
"Come and worship, here and now, 
While the God who gives you beauty, 
Seals this peace upon your brow !" 

From my garden in the morning, 
Where the spruces dark and high 
Hold their fingers up to heaven, 
I can hear a murmuring sigh ; — 
"Stand we, garden guardians faithful, 
While all seasons we employ, 
To be ever green and graceful, 
For the increase of your joy." 



160 Outdoors and In 

In my garden in the morning, 
When the birds are on the wing, 
Thoughts with peace and plenty laden, 
Messages so cheering bring; — 
"Winter cannot change the prospect; 
Always joy will follow strife!" 
So my garden in the morning, 
Sings to me the song of life !" 



FOR FLORA'S EVENING STROLL 

I've asked the fireflies for their glows, 
As long this path she tipsy-toes ; 
I've dared the dew to keep away, 
Till after she has passed this way, 
Along the hedge-rose rows ! 



This life is like an April day; a little rain, 

A little sun : 
And while we work, or while we play, we feel full 
Hopes 

Of joys to come ! 



Little maiden, would you know 
All the message of a flower; 
Tend it, love it, watch it grow 
In sunshine and in shower! 



Garden Wise 161 

SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE 

From the garden, she watches 
The road, where long ago, 
He went away. 

As a Madonna-lily, 
So, tempest torn, falls 
Her anguished heart. 



A LETTER FROM FRANCE 

Since you have given your heart to me, 
My every day has thrilled 
With visions of eternity, 
By peace and beauty filled. 

And though I love the starlit sky, 
The earth where duty flowers ; 
The springs of life would soon run dry, 
Were there no quiet hours, 

When I could dream of all you are, 
And all I hope to be; 
And of that blest togetherness 
Of married you and me. 



1 62 Outdoors and In 

A 1917 GARDEN EPIC 

TO G. W. T. 

I have writ potato poems 
All this summer through, 
While canzonets of cabbage 
In my garden grew. 

I have gaily cultivated 
My beans in strophe measure, 
And scanned my beets and onions 
With true aesthetic pleasure. 

To help my native country, 

I've lived the lay bucolic. 

My ballad runes to pests and worms 

That rhapsodize and frolic. 

An ode on bugs is odious, 
So poison I will try; 
Some poesy of Paris-green 
Or Bordeaux lullaby. 

My better half an elegy 
Of jam and jelly plans: 
I cannot be the troubadour 
Of half the things she cans. 



Garden Wise 163 

And now the laureate must dig 
His crops to store away, 
In rutabaga madrigal, 
And carrot roundelay. 



SINCE ADAM 

Child, not alone in planting seed — 

'Tis caring every hour. 
When loving much, you will succeed 

With plant and fruit and flower! 



!64 Outdoors and In 

BALLADE 

TO R. H. 

Lavender, mauve, violet, white 
Masses of asters in fall review; 
Deepest rose, and in sunset light, 
Crimson, pink and night-touched blue ! 
Such is the picture the dreamer drew 
Of color and glow in a wonderful plan, 
That only the heart of a poet knew — 
A garden of God, for the soul of man. 

How at the dawn, they rise to the sight, 
Thrilling the senses through and through : 
Moving like myriad messengers bright, 
Refreshed by night and the plenteous dew, 
To teach the heart and its life renew. 
Beauty reborn ! Since time began, 
Hope will contrive what art cannot do — 
A garden of God, for the soul of man. 

Asters are these? No, stars in their flight, 
Lured to an earthly rendezvous : 
Magnificence spread by the generous night, 
Miracle of blossom, lending a clue 
To the mind of the Master. Let faith be true 
To this promise of joy! Let him who can, 
Hold for his sign, and take for his cue — 
A garden of God, for the soul of man. 



Garden Wise J 65 



Envoi 



It was not the beauty the dreamer drew, 
But a finer, fuller, fairer plan; 
For Love and Light were working through 
A garden of God, for the soul of Man. 



AN INTERLUDE 



AN INTERLUDE 



CAPE COD 



TO T. F. H. 



Here lies the land to which all hearts may turn, 
When weary of the glamour and the strife; 
And here, in simple lessons, we may learn 
What is the golden mean, the key of life. 

It matters not which spot our hearts most praise : 

Pocasset to Wood End — along the line — 
The charm comes cooling from all creeks and bays, 

Laden with salt and healing pine. 
The South Sea, with its myriad, mysterious moods, 

Is an alluring constant joy, 
From the warm, wave-washed Wianno woods, 

To the pale mirage of Monomoy. 



[169] 



1 7° Outdoors and In 

And who that knows and plods the woodland way, 

Where Mattakese or Nobscot trod, 
Arbutus-strewn, as then, to-day, 

Can lose the sense of home or God? 
To all that claim this shining land by birth, 

Though they may make the world their own, 
A voice is ever calling through the earth: 

"Come back ! Here lies the heart's true home !" 

Though they pursue the tempting springs of health 

Through every other land and clime; 
Though they command the witchery of wealth — 

As sure as dawn will come the time, 
When purer, sweeter to the taste will seem 

The flow of Wellfleet's silver spring; 
When Quissett, the beautiful, will rise, a dream; 

Or memories of Scargo ring. 

Should one of the tantalizing lotus eat; 

That has no power for ill, 
If he has ever gathered, dewy-sweet, 

Fresh blueberries from Kidd's hill 
And not on those alone, who here can live, 
These fields and shores their blessings shower ; 
There's beauty bountiful enough to give 

Enchantment to each passing hour. 



An Interlude t-7 1 

Who has not summered 'mong its glowing, gusty bays, 

And wintered neath the odorous pine; 
Nor felt the stinging of the sharp, salt sprays, 

And breathed the air of cranberry-time; 
Nor seen the marshes, lonely, looming from the mist, 

Legendry of the wind and sea; 

And serried, sand-dune sentinels, sun-kissed, 

Perpetual guardians of the lea; 

Nor in the melting moods of mellow, misty days, 

Has heard the surf at sunset roar; 
Nor wandered wild and unaccustomed ways : 

Can dream the wonders here in store. 
Have you not revelled in the generous fields of gold 

When the dwarf heather is in flower — 
When indigo, of candelabra such as fairies hold, 

Makes all the earth a bower — 

Have you ne'er found a blue-gemmed inland lake, 

As if pearl-set in shimmering shore, 
Inviting of its lilies' fragrance to partake, 

Or of sabbatia, to rob its store — 
Have you ne'er thrilled at snowy banks and drifts, 

The humble beach-plum blossom's dower, 
At fields of blazing star in purple rifts ? 

Then you have missed life's wondrous hour! 



t-7 2 Outdoors and In 

Who would not breath the night wind soft and pure, 
And hail with joy the strong marsh smell? 

And plunge into the foaming tides that lure, 
And ride upon the seething swell? 

Who would not take the gift of golden summer days? 
Who would refuse this boon of field in flower, 

Or lightly Ipse the legacy of creeks and bays, 

Or dare refuse one perfect hour? 

For all within the largess of her amplitude, 
As children on a mother's breast: 
On Massachusetts' strong right arm, from rude 
Wild storms of life, may rest! 



DREAM WISE 



DREAM WISE 



DREAM WISE 

My heart has its business of dreams, 
With the stars and the flowers to be won; 
While my office shall be to spin themes 
That the whisper of faith has begun. 

My mind has its storehouse of dreams, 
Where treasure on treasure is piled ; 
Hopes jewelled with brilliant love gleams, 
And memories of faces that smiled. 

My soul has existence in dreams, 
From the first that was born with the breath, 
Through the years true happiness beams, 
To the greatest of all, after death. 



[175] 



176 Outdoors and In 

PROCLAMATION 

Imagination is all ! 

Dreams, ecstasies, transcend realities ! 
The impulse of life is toward immensities ! 
Immeasurable are self and sacrifice! 
Unlimited are love and elation! 
Gracious, ineffable, glorious, the paeans 

of promise: 
Divinely haloed, the afflatus of passion! 

All senses are one ! 

Music is color ! And touch is tone ! 

Joy is a fluid ! 

Poems are lived, and death is a song! 



Dream Wise ^77 

THE PINES OF YARMOUTH 

Who walks these ways with gladness in the heart, 

Regrets no hurried mingling of the throng, 

In fierce activities will seek no part, 

Sensing the simpler school of smile and song; 

Freed from the turmoil of the city mart, 

Where custom and frivolity belong ; 

Nor shape his living dreams to forms of art, 

But voice an unpremeditated song! 

Who may criticise another's role? 

The heart of truth beats not upon the street, 

Nor in the war-mad nation's strife; 
But in such simple schemes of life, 

As tune the worship of the eager soul, 

To strains of nature, soft and sweet! 



J 7 8 Outdoors and In 

THE WRITER'S IDEAL 

Words may be used to outline 
All the easily comprehended 
Phases of life; 
But of its deeper meanings, 
There are no symbols. 
The soul cannot sing 
In tones so crude as those 
Provided by the senses for the tongue. 
Yet often in the stirring 
Of that mass of material mud, 
We call language, 

A faint gleam of some transcendent beauty 
Touches the depths within us. 
• So by ever striving with blunt words 
And stubborn phrases, 
One may hope to polish thought 
Until it shall, at last, 
Emit one pure ray of truth ! 



Dream Wise i79 

THE DREAMERS 

Shakespeare ! 

Dreamer, not of gold or power, 
Nor the fickle fancy of the hour: 
Broadest democracy, his scope; 
Humanity, its heart and hope! 

The Playwright Is The Lifewright! 

Because three hundred years ago, 
Will Shakespeare wrought his plan, 
The world is wiser ; you can show, 
And I, a better man! 



Emerson ! 



Full kind to beast, though kin to God ; 
Of larger life he trod the sod, 
Translating to the soul of man, 
The sweetness of life's bitter plan. 



i8o Outdoors and In 

A Tribute 

TO THE IDEALIST 
To W. W., I. P. and Others Great 

Who grasps the light 
with eager hands, 

And holds it though 
alone he stands, 

Breasting baser 
world demands. 

Rulers, systems 
cringe and crawl, 

Factions rise, 
and nations fall : 

At last the dreamer 
leads them all! 

O TEMPORA ! O MORES ! 

Women, weep ! For man and state 
Are pledged to war! Yet rise and sing, 
Full-faithed as bird that feels the spring, 
For somewhere love shines over hate! 



Dream Wise 181 

DIES IRAE 

A soldier passed me in the crowded street, 

But I was far below the level of his eyes ; 

His lofty duty only could he see! 

I thought my anguished heart would cease to beat ! 

My son, so young, so strong, so good, so wise ! 

And many million mothers weep with me ! 

PERSONAL CONVICTION 

Now War and Woe bind head and hand; 

Hysteria is rife, 
And fiendish feud on sea and land 
Mocks human life! 

Though far the world-tide battle din, 

Though near the goads of state, 

The victory each self must win, 

Will drive its heart to hate; 

Will teach its youth the ways of hell, 

And breed the spawn of pain; 

And heritage of freedom sell, 

A doubtful right to gain. 
Oh ! foolish times and feeble faith 

To trust in mounds of gold, 
An armament, that wasteful wraith! 

Past wars the truth have told: 

Not arms, nor cross, nor any power, 

Shall cause this strife to cease, 

Till every human soul, each hour 

Shall humbly seek for peace! 



!8 2 Outdoors and In 

TRAUMEREI 

Lost in darkness, dwells a heart, sad, lone, 

Upon a wintry height; 
Around it, winds forever moan 

And mysteries affright. 

It longs unceasingly for day, 
A dawn unbearably bright: 

The sultry, suffocating way, 
Intense with torrid light. 

PREHISTORIC 

I found a message that was lost, 
Before the world began: — 

The strongest character will cost 
Full price to every man ! 

There are no bargains, nor shall ease 

Or pleasure pass as coin ! 
The majesty of toil shall seize 

All those who will not join! 

And every day shall count as one 
That to some good gives birth! 

In every deed that's nobly done, 
The doer finds his worth ! 

And for the doings of the least 

Of all the tasks unrolled, 
The larger entrance to the feast 

Of joy, shall time unfold ! 



Dream Wise 183 



TOUCH NOT 



All wear a veil ! Then, who shall dare 
The inmost shrine of a soul to bare 

To a grinning world ? 'Tis a godlike task 
To keep what's sacred 'neath a mask ! 



FOR SANITY 

My human faith is weak and frail, 
This woeful war has done it harm ; 
And lest it altogether fail, 
I'll protect it with a charm. 

Before the windows of my mind, 
I'll keep three visions of delight; 
Song of birds, scent of flowers, 
And faithful stars, serenely bright. 

All that wickedness and fear, 
All that hate and strife, compels, 
Shall melt to music, disappear 
In the beauty of these spells. 

As long as battles rage and roar, 
As long as mothers wail and weep, 
Upon the altar of my mind, 
The faith of flower and star I'll keep. 



l8 4 Outdoors and In 



ADMONITION 



No buttering of words, shall make truth, 
The bitter bread of life, more palatable. 
Bite then, all haughty ones, the crust of hate, 
And choking, swallow your own poison pride! 



PURE WATERS 

The laughter that forces from lips that are false 

Can never with filth besmear 
The bubbles of mirth that rise from the heart 

Whose stream of life runs clear ! 



OLD MIRROR ! 

In your old fashioned gilt embrace, 
I see the glory and the grace 
Of my sainted mother's face! 



Dream Wise 185 

YOUTH WRITES AND AGE REWRITES 

Love and longing and dreams, 

The world casts down to dread, 

Yet we must ever struggle on 

To faith and joy ahead. 

No other can ever know or share 

The inmost ache of your soul, 

For each alone his burden must bear 

For the universal whole! 

Fully I know, as all will find, 

Who seek the paths of light, 

The spirit of hope can master the mind, 

And the pulse of life set right. 

Pain and pain and pain may come, 

And joy and ease may go, 

But faith unburdens everyone 

As through the dark we go. 



VALUES 

A black and yellow feather, 

Once to a bird, a glory, 

And a comfort ! To me, above my desk, 

A symbol of song and story! 



186 Outdoors and In 



LIFE 



In the cloth and seams 
Of the garment are wrought 
Wonderful dreams, 
Too pure for thought! 



THE WIFE 



Hurry, God, hurry! 
Little Willie is sick! 
His father threw a brick, 
But the Devil's to blame! 



Dream Wise 187 

RETROSPECT 

It is not the approach of winter, 
Nor the. whirl of drifting leaves, 
It is not the dreary future, 
For which my spirit grieves ; 
'Tis for the long lost wonders, 
That only a child believes. 

On the crest of a lofty mountain, 

In a valley, battle trod, 

Acropolis, tropical jungle, 

Desert — all these I plod: 

Nothing, these moments, to those as a child, 

When each thought was a message from God. 

But when I dream of the homeland, 

The wind has a childhood strain. 

Oh ! how it rattled the windows, 

And shrieked through the sleet and the rain, 

And rocked the house in its wildness. 

There was joy in each fear and pain ! 



J 88 Outdoors and In 

TREASURE TROVE 

I go to my treasure trove, 
And straightway the sky is clear ; 
The far-away of my dreams 
Becomes the now and here ! 
The charms of legend and clime, 
The mystical fairy grove; 
All fancy's wonderful gifts, 
I find in my treasure trove ! 

The glories of space and of time, 

The splendors of earth and of sea; 

The uplift of heart and of soul, 

My treasure trove opens for me ! 

Perhaps to discover such joys, 

You've searched earth's crannies and nooks ! 

Like me, friend, your treasure trove find 

Between the covers of books ! 

THE DAILY QUESTION 

Can I hold one friend more dear 

Than another, 
Since every man upon this earth 

Is my brother? 

May I clasp the gifts of God 

Close to my breast, 
While multitudes are still unfed, 

And homes unblest? 



Dream Wise 189 

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS IS BORN 

Shall all the dreams the peace of world is waiting for, 
Lie dead a thousand years with more unbridled war, 
Till all the dreamers fall to dreamless sleep, 
And no one longer yearns the tryst with truth to keep ? 
Shall I deny my faith in what I feel is right, 
Because the eyes of worldlings are blinded by the 

sight 
Of panoply and power? Commanding nations sin; 
And blackest is the crime of those who win. 
For victory that stirs the patriot's soul, 
Is won for part, and never for the whole. 
For universal peace and brotherhood we'll try, 
And let that dire delusion of nationalism die! 



UNITED STATES SPEAKS ON JULY 4th 

"I have visioned some of the light; 
I have given all that I could; 
I hope that the vision was right, 
I pray that my giving was good!" 



i9° Outdoors and In 

THE MOTIVE 

I heard a child at Sorrow's Mart, 
Voicing hope's melodious trills ; 
"Why soar?" I asked, "Above life's ills?" 
"I sing the song that's in my heart !" 

I questioned Youth, who toiled apart ; 
"Why far from fields of sport and play, 
Your sinews strain at rock or clay?" 
"I work the plan that's in my heart !" 

I beckoned one whom pain's keen dart 
Had crippled for the race of life; 
"You know how useless all this strife!" 
"I hold the faith that's in my heart !" 

So each and all will act their part. 

I never find, where'er I go, 

So rich, so poor, so high, so low, 

But live for love that's in the heart ! 



Dream Wise J9 1 

A RONDEAU TO ETHEL 

TO E. W. K. 

In College days ! I must confess, 
My wit's too feeble to express 
Any thought that can compare 
To the radiant smile you wear! 
Since you of joys are Shepherdess, 
All lore must flock to your success; 
And faith and love in you possess 
The charm to buckler doubt and care, 
In College days ! 

Serene, enthroned, waits happiness, 
That time can never disposess : 
Your heart is full, your world is fair ; 
The empyrean fills the air, 
And youth fares forth to Godlikeness, 
In College days ! 



i9 2 Outdoors and In 

A POET SANG 

A poet sang in my backyard, 
And flourished like a tree. 
His every note, 
The birds could quote, 
Was whispered by the sea! 

Oh, dearest poet of my heart! 

Your music's like a stream 
Of sunlight gold, 
Against the cold, 
Pale morning dream! 

AWAKENING 

Now that we have met, 

That once I've looked into his eyes, 

And felt the clean touch of his hand, 

I'll gladly let 

My love arise 

To his command! 

Whatever he should ask, 
However he may faint or bleed, 
Wherever his faith calls him to roam, 
It is my task 
To fill his need 
With my heart home. 



Dream Wise J 93 

The little faith I have, 
Is measured to my need; 
In hope, it flowers high, 
Above each earthly weed ! 

AGE, TO HER MIRROR 

Has thou forgotten long ago, 
The beauty of my youthful glow? 

Recall some glory of the past, 

The queenly graces you have glassed ! 

False friend, you may treat my trust with scorn, 
The youth I feel, from you, is gone ! 

EXPERIENCE 

The heart grows cold, 
When every effort 
Is ironed out, 
Or wrapped in silk. 
The soul grows old 
On the cream of life ! 
Give me youth's 
Sour buttermilk: 
The bitter tang 
Of work and strife, 
And all the hard 
Earned joys of life. 



i94 Outdoors and In 

ULTIMATUM 

My faith must be as free, 
As bird awing, soaring above captivity, 
When bound, shall sing ! 
My faith is all too high, 

For land or home, for flares beyond the sky, 
Another dome! 

If in the adventurous land, 

When night is gone, there gleams no friendly hand, 
My soul must on : 

Free as the untaught air, 

Unbound by time or place, alone among 
eternities, 
Its way to trace. 



Dream Wise i95 

MARY LOUISE DANCES 

TO M. L. F. 

I saw her dancing at the door of life, 

With steps as pure and light, 

As fair celestial sprite, 
Above all reach of earth or worldly strife. 

And I beheld a dreamlight in her eyes, 
Like moonshine streaming only 
Through shadows long and lonely ; 

Awaking all the night to glad surprise. 

The music patterns that her arms and feet 
Weave on the pages of the mind, 
Like fairy springs of beauty bind 

Memories to melodies, serene and sweet. 

Her motions memorialize the truth 

In plastic meditations 

Of budding creations 
That flower into Spring and Youth. 

I see her dancing down the aisles of time, 

Till all we doubt and dread, 

By her light steps are led 
Into celestial rhythms of immortal rhyme. 



196 Outdoors and In 

UNITED 

Our glowing hearts shall keep a home 

Within, where all is fair; 
Where world about us cannot come, 

Nor fears intrude, nor care! 

Where wondrous gifts, unasked, unplanned, 
Enchantments royal round us cast ; 

So, holding closely, hand in hand, 

The far is near, the small is vast! 

Dear dreams, enfolding faith and life, 
In purest sympathy expressed: 

Can any wickedness or strife 

Disturb two souls such love has blest? 



Dream Wise i°7 

POETAS SPEAKS 

TO E. W. K. 

What a beautiful world this is ! 

Even now, the air is sweet with the mingled odors of 
fruit and flower! 

Soft, nourishing, mothering air! 

Even now, the treetops are beckoning, the fields invit- 
ing, soil and grass, herb and flower, coaxing, 
coaxing ! 

The waves wistfully whispering welcomes; 

The earth everywhere linking us thought by thought 
to beauty! 

Pictures! All beautiful! Do you not see them? 

Springtime meadows and wind-dappled waters ! 

Chill twilights and the hurrying, writhing rhythms of 
early smoke! 

Summer rife with riches, and winter busy with labor ! 

Faces brown with the sun, and kind with content ! 

Hearts generous with Nature's gifts! 
Lives lived near the core of life ! 
Visions ! Visions ! All beautiful ! 

Amazing lights that gleam from mountain tops ! 

Unmatched glories of sunsets! 

Splendors of mysterious auroras ; and the sea, 

Masked with moods of the majestic storm, 
Or the insufferable, sultry calm ! 

Fields of flowers, sheets of foam, melting clouds, 

Seething treetops, tossing grainfields, 

The bare and solemn rock, and the desert! 



!9 8 Outdoors and In 

There is no spot on earth but has its own transcend- 
ent beauty ! 
Music ! The sea sings, the land is molded melody ! 
The sky is harping the harmony of the universe ! 
The wind and the rain, the voices of labor, 
The trumpets of dawn, and the viols of night, 
Symphonies of insect, bird, and beast, 
The soft fluttering of innumerable leaves; 
The holy and innocent throbbing of human hearts ; 
All these make incense in the temple of music ! 
Beauty ! Your spirit broods over all, 

And has touched the poorest, meanest things ! 
The splendor of material, the wonder of eternal, 
And the ineffable beauty of spiritual things 
Fills all vistas ! 

From the Drama "Maida," ipio. 



If, to the forest of Arden, 
I never find my way, 
I'll love the immediate beauty 
Forever and a day ! 



ENVOI 

I wish that I could write a line, 

That would all former lines outshine; 

A radiant thought so well expressed, 
That all who read it might be blest; 

A glowlight for the heart at night, 
To guide one surely to delight; 

A merry trumpet to the day, 

To blow for work and shout for play ; 

A melody of faith and peace 
That shall the joy of life increase; 

One strain of beauty, calm and free, 
To echo down eternity. 



The End 



[199 J 



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